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IN THE 

ANIMAL WORLD 


BY 

CAROLYN SHERWIN J3AILEY 

Author of: “Tell Me Another Story,” “Once Upon a Time Animal 
Stories,” “Stories Children Need,” “Flint, the Story of a 
Trail,” “Wonder Stories,” “Friendly Tales,” 

“Merry Tales for Children,” etc. 


1924 

MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY 

SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS 



Copyright, 19 2If. 

By MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY 
Springfield, Massachusetts 
All Rights Reserved 


Bradley Quality Books 

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


AUG 25 ’24 

©C1A801474 





FOREWORD 


The world of animals lies very close to that 
of childhood, and close to ours if we make a 
study of comparative folk lore, of those animal 
characters who live between the covers of our 
well known authors, and particularly of ani¬ 
mal conduct as related to the behaviour of 
human beings. 

So it has seemed to me worth while to col¬ 
lect a few of the stories of animals which best 
express this idea, the belief that we have some¬ 
thing to learn from the faithfulness of a dog, 
from the devotion of service of the beasts of 
burden, from the primitive lore of races in 
evolution in which animals are used to pre¬ 
sent the truths of life, and from the spiritual 
ideals which, even before the dawn of Chris¬ 
tianity, were put into tales of the animals’ 
progress on earth. 

There is also the store of real humor for 
children in the fabled vicissitudes of the cat 
and the fox, the rabbit and the kid. The re¬ 
lationship of these to the larger animals fur¬ 
nishes illustration of human relationship; it 
establishes a basis for a philosophy of life 

iii 


IV 


FOREWORD 


which can scarcely be founded in a pleasanter 
or more lasting way. 

There is hardly a phase of childhood with¬ 
out its parallel in one of these tales of the ani¬ 
mals, and I have found it possible to group 
them, with variety of appeal in each group, 
so as to meet and cover the possible develop¬ 
ment of a child from the home, through neigh¬ 
borhood and community contacts until the 
time comes for the formation of such spiritual 
ideals as are found in the symbolism of the 
reindeer of “The Snow Queen,’’ in the signifi¬ 
cance of the ride of Sleipner in search of 
Balder, and in the African primitive tale of 
the message sent from the moon. 

They form a good company for the road of 
the children, the horses of Tolstoi, the fine 
family of terriers of Sir Walter Scott, the pa¬ 
tient horse who tried to carry the White 
Knight of the Looking Glass country, old 
Ribsy from “Davy and the Goblin,” Mr. 
Hornaday’s animals of our Zoological Park 
who gave him their Laws, the dogs of The- 
ophile Gautier, the animals of the Bible; 
mothering, working, playing, riding to battle, 
heroes according to their instincts! 

Carolyn Sherwin Bailey. 


EDITORIAL NOTE 


I am indebted as follows to authors and pub¬ 
lishers for copyrighted material appearing in 
this work: 

Doubleday, Page and Co. for “The Elf” 
from “The Wonderful Adventures of Nils” by 
Selma Lagerlof. Thomas Y. Crowell Com¬ 
pany for “The Old Horse” and “How I 
learned to Ride Horseback” by Lyof N. Tol¬ 
stoi appearing in THE LONG EXILE. 
Longmans, Green and Co. for “The Dancing 
Dog” and “The Strange History of Cagnotte” 
by Theophile Gautier. The Century Co. for 
“The Cat and the Coffee Mill” by John Ben¬ 
nett from Saint Nicholas, and for “The Story 
of Bucephalus” from “The Horse Fair” by 
James Baldwin. The Bloch Publishing Co. 
for “The Quarrel of the Cat and the Dog” 
from “Jewish Legends.” The Saturday 
Evening Post and Mr. George Weston for the 
selection from “Girls Never Know” appear¬ 
ing in this work under the title “The Fiery 
Steed of Tassel Top Farm.” Mr. Arthur 
Ransome for “The Cat Who Became Head 


VI 


EDITORIAL NOTE 


Forester’’ from “Old Peter’s Russian Tales.” 
Thomas Y. Crowell and Co. for “Caliban” 
from “True Stories About Horses” by Lillian 
Gask. The Houghton Mifflin Co. for ‘ L Ribsy” 
from “Davy and the Goblin” by Charles E. 
Carryl. 

“The Beaver Builds” and “The Laws of 
the Flocks and the Herds” are from “Minds 
and Manners of Wild Animals” by William 
T. Hornaday, Director New York Zoological 
Society, copyright 1922 by Charles Scribner’s 
Sons. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


Of Mothers 

The Elf. 

Mother Black Bear . 
Hill-Nanny and Her 
Kids. 

At Home 

The House on the Side 
of the Hill . . . 

Toby. 

Why the Cat Scratches 

With the Children 

How I learned to Ride 
Horseback 
The New Room 
The Strange History of 
Cagnotte .... 

In the Family 

The Kitten Who Had no 
Name. 

Dandy DinmonCs Ter¬ 
riers . 

The Fox Outwitted . 

Of Amusing Cats 
The Pocket Cat . 

How Cats Came to Purr 
Pame Wiggins of Lee . 


Selma Lagerlof ... 3 

C. S. B.11 

Adapted from a Russian 
Primitive .... 20 


C. S. B.29 

Dr. John Brown in Rab 
and His Friends . . 35 

Adapted from an Italian 
Primitive .... 42 


Lyof N. Tolstoi ... 51 

C. S. B.56 

Theophile Gautier . . 64 


Adapted from a Japanese 
Fable ..... 71 

Sir Walter Scott in Guy 
Mannering . . . .76 

Adapted from an Italian 
Primitive .... 85 

C. S. B.93 

John Bennett .... 99 

John Ruskin , . , , 108 






Vlll 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


Why Stories 

Why There are Tailless 

Cats.Manx Legendary . . . 117 

Why the Cat Catches 

Mice.Adapted from a Slavic 

Primitive .... 122 

Why the Cat Dislikes 

Wet Feet . . . . C. S. B.128 

Op Faithful Dogs 

The Dancing Dog . . Theophile Gautier . . . 137 

A Dog of Flanders . . Adapted from Ouida . . 143 

The Dog Who Lost His 

Master . . . . C. S. B.151 


Of Cats and Dogs 

The Quarrel of the Cat 
and the Dog . 

The Cat That Could not 
be Killed .... 
Old Sultan .... 

On the Farm 

The Fiery Steed of Tas¬ 
sel Top Farm . 

Why the Squirrel Gave 
up Farming 

When the Lamb Was a 
Hero. 

Of Workers 

The Beaver Builds . 

The Horse Who Worked 
in the Dark . 

Wylie. 

Of Old Horses 

The Old Horse . 

Ribsy. 


Gertrude Landa . . . 161 

East Indian Primitive . 169 
Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm 174 


George Weston . . . 181 

Adapted from a West Af¬ 
rican Folk Tale . . 188 

Adapted from a South 
American Folk Tale . 193 

William T. Hornaday . 203 

Lillian Gask .... 206 
Dr. John Brown in Rab 
and His Friends . . 217 

Lyof N. Tolstoi . . . 223 

Charles E. Carryl . . 227 




TABLE OF CONTENTS 


IX 


Winding Up Time . . 

Of Friends 

The Elephant Who Was 

Jean Ingelow . 

237 

Lonely. 

East Indian Primitive, 


The Dog and Cat from 

third century 

249 

the Sky .... 
The Monkey Who 

Russian, b. c. 

254 

Brought Thanksgiving 

In the Forest 

How the Cat Became 

Carolyn Sherwin Bailey . 

261 

Head Forester 

Arthur Ransome . 

269 

The Golden Bird 

Adapted from Wilhelm 


The Prince Who Was 

and Jacob Grimm . 

279 

Afraid .... 

Of Fairy Cats 

Carolyn Sherwin Bailey . 

289 

The White Cat . 

Adapted. 

297 

Puss in Boots 

Pinocchio’s Adventure 

Adapted. 

307 

with the Cat . 

In Council 

The Laws of the Flocks 

C. Collodi. 

316 

and the Herds 

William T. Hornaday 

329 

The White Elephant 

The Judgment of the 

Brahmin Primitve 

331 

Fox. 

Adapted from a Russian 


On Sunday 

Folk Tale .... 

338 

Noah and the Ark . 

The Bible. 

345 

Daniel in the Lions’ Den 

The Bible. 

350 

A Battle Horse . 

The Bible. 

354 


For Christmas 

The Silver Porringer . Adapted from an Aryan 

Primitive .... 357 

The White Bear’s Christ¬ 
mas . 


Adapted from a Norwe¬ 
gian Folk Tale . . . 364 



X 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 


The Cat Who Kept 
Christmas . . 

For Easter 

Of the Snow Queen's 
Palace. 

The Horse That Brought 
the Spring 

The Message of the 
Lady Moon 

Of Horses Who Live in 
Books 

Mr. Pickwick Drives . 

The White Knight and 
His Horse .... 

Jackanapes Rides the 
Red-Haired Pony 

Around Lodge Fires 

Why the Dog Sits by 
the Fire .... 

How the Elephant Came 

Why the Lion Has a 
Long Tail .... 


When Heroes Ride 

Bucephalus .... 
The Horse Who Kept 
School. 

The Horse Who Rode 
Through Fire . . 


Carolyn Sherwin Bailey . 370 


Adapted from Hans 
Christian Andersen . 377 

Retold from Classic Myths 386 

Adapted from a South 
African Primitive . .396 


Charles Dickens . . . 403 

Lewis Carroll .... 409 
Juliana Horatio Ewing . 419 


Adapted from an Iroquois 
Legend . . . ... 429 

Adapted from an Iroquois 
Legend.435 

Adapted from a Black- 
foot Legend .... 441 


Retold hy James Baldwin 449 

Adapted from Classic 
Myths.455 

Adapted from The Nibel- 
unglied , , . , , 465 


OF MOTHERS 


In the Animal World 


THE ELE 

Once upon a time there was a thing hap¬ 
pened in Skane which created a good deal of 
discussion, and which even got into the news¬ 
papers, but which many believed to be only a 
story, because they were not able to explain it. 

It came about like this. A lady squirrel 
had been captured in the hazel brush along the 
shores of the Yomb lake, and carried to a farm¬ 
house close by. All the folks on the farm, 
both young and old, were delighted with the 
pretty creature, the wise, inquisitive eyes and 
the natty little feet. They planned to amuse 
themselves all summer watching its nimble 
movements, its ingenious way of shelling nuts 
and its droll play. They made ready an old 
squirrel-cage, with a little green house and 
a wire cylinder wheel. The little house, which 
had both doors and windows, the lady squirrel 

3 


4 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


was to use as a dining-room and bedroom. So 
they placed in it a bed of leaves, a bowl of milk 
and some nuts. The wheel she was to use as a 
playhouse, where she could run and climb and 
swing around. 

The farm people thought that they had ar¬ 
ranged things very comfortably for the lady 
squirrel, and they were astonished because she 
did not seem contented; but, instead, sat there, 
downcast and moody, in a corner of her room. 
Every now and again she would let out a shrill, 
agonized cry. She did not touch her food, 
and not once did she swing round on the wheel. 

“It’s probably because she’s frightened,” 
said the farmer folk. “To-morrow, when she 
feels more at home, she will both eat and 
play.” 

Meanwhile, the women folk on the farm 
were getting ready for a feast. The very day 
the lady squirrel was captured, they were busy 
with an elaborate bake. They had bad luck 
with something; either the dough wouldn’t 
rise, or they had been slow, for they were 
obliged to work till long after dark. 

So there was a great deal of bustle and ex¬ 
citement in the kitchen, and no one there had 
time to think about the squirrel, or to wonder 


THE ELF 


5 


how she was faring. But there was an old 
grandma in the house, too aged to take a hand 
in the baking; this she herself understood, but 
all the same she did not relish the idea of be¬ 
ing left out of the game. Indeed she felt 
rather downhearted; therefore she did not go 
to bed hut seated herself by the sitting-room 
window to look out. 

They had opened the kitchen door on ac¬ 
count of the heat, and through it a clear ray of 
light streamed into the yard, which made it 
so light out there that the old woman could 
see all the cracks and holes in the plastering 
of the wall opposite. She also saw the 
squirrel-cage, which hung just where the light 
fell clearest. And she noticed how the lady 
squirrel ran from her little green house to the 
wheel, and from the wheel back again, all night 
long without stopping. The grandmother 
thought it a strange sort of unrest that had 
come over the animal, but she believed that it 
was the strong light which kept her awake. 

Between the cowhouse and the stable there 
was a broad covered carriage-gate. This too 
was in the radius of the light. As the night 
wore on, the old grandma saw a tiny creature, 
no bigger than a hand’s breadth, cautiously 


6 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


stealing Ms way through the gate. He was 
dressed in leather breeches and wooden 
shoes, like any other workingman. The old 
grandma knew at once that it was the elf, and 
she was not the least bit frightened. She had 
always heard that the elf kept himself busy 
somewhere about the place, but she had never 
seen him before. An elf, to be sure, always 
brought good luck to a farm. 

As soon as the elf came into the stone-paved 
yard, he ran straight up to the squirrel-cage. 
And since it hung so high that he could not 
reach it, he went over to the storehouse after a 
rod, placed this against the cage, and swung 
himself up in the same way a sailor climbs a 
rope. When he had reached the cage, he 
shook the door of the little green house as if to 
open it; but the old grandma did not move, for 
she knew that the children had put a padlock 
on the door, fearing that the boys from a 
neighboring farm would try to steal their 
squirrel. 

The old woman saw that when the elf could 
not open the door, the lady squirrel came out 
to the wire wheel, where the two had a long 
talk. And when the elf had listened to all that 
the squirrel had to say to him, he slid down to 


THE ELF 


7 


the ground and ran out through the carriage 
gate. 

The old woman did not expect to see any¬ 
thing more of the elf that night, but she re¬ 
mained at the window. In a few moments he 
returned. He was in such a hurry that it 
seemed as if his feet hardly touched the 
ground, and he rushed right over to the 
squirrel-cage. The old grandma, with her 
far-sighted eyes, saw him distinctly. She also 
saw that the elf carried something in his hand, 
but what it was she couldn’t imagine. 

That which he carried in his left hand he 
laid down on the pavement, but that which he 
held in his right hand he carried up with him 
as he again climbed to the cage. He kicked 
so hard with his little wooden shoes on the win¬ 
dow that the glass broke. And he pushed in 
toward the lady squirrel that which he held in 
his hand. Then he slid down, took that which 
he had laid upon the ground, and climbed to 
the cage with that also. The next instant he 
ran off again with so much haste that the 
grandma was not able to follow him with her 
eyes. 

But now the old grandma could no longer 
sit still in the cottage, but very slowly went out 


8 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


to the yard and stationed herself in the shadow 
of the pump to await the elf’s return. And 
there was another who had also seen him and 
become curious. This was the house-cat. He 
crept slyly along and stopped close to the wall, 
just two steps away from the light. The two 
of them stood waiting long and patiently on 
that chilly March night, and the old woman 
was just beginning to think about going in 
again when she heard a clatter on the pave¬ 
ment. She saw the little mite of an elf come 
trotting along once more, carrying a burden 
in each hand as he had done before. 

That which he brought squealed and 
squirmed. And now a light dawned on the old 
grandma. She understood that the elf had 
hurried down to the hazel grove and had 
brought back the lady squirrel’s babies, and 
that he was carrying them to her so they 
shouldn’t starve to death. 

The old grandma stood very still so as not 
to disturb them, and it appeared as if the elf 
had not noticed her. He was just about to lay 
one of the babies on the ground so that he could 
swing himself up to the cage with the other 
one, when he saw the house-cat’s green eyes 
glisten close behind him. He stood there, be- 


THE ELF 


9 


wildered, with a young one in each wee hand. 

He turned and looked in all directions. 
Presently he became aware of the old grand¬ 
ma’s presence. He did not hesitate then but 
walked forward, and stretched his arms as 
high as he could reach for her to take one of 
the baby squirrels. 

The old grandma did not wish to prove her¬ 
self unworthy of the confidence, so she bent 
down and took the baby squirrel and stood 
there holding it until the elf had swung him¬ 
self up to the cage with the other one. Then 
he came back for the one he had entrusted to 
her care. 

The next morning when the farm folk came 
together for breakfast the old grandma could 
not refrain from telling them of what she had 
seen the night before. They all laughed at 
her, of course, and said that she had been only 
dreaming. There were no baby squirrels so 
early in the year. 

But she was sure of her ground, and begged 
them to take a look at the squirrel-cage, which 
they did. And there, on the bed of leaves, lay 
four tiny, half-naked, half-blind baby squir¬ 
rels, who were at least two days old. 

When the farmer himself saw the young 


10 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


ones, he said, “Be it as it may with this; but 
one thing is certain, we, of this farm, have be¬ 
haved in snch a manner that we are shamed 
before both animals and human beings.’’ 
And, thereupon, he took the mother squirrel 
and all her babies from the cage, and laid them 
in the old grandma’s lap. “Go thou to the 
hazel-grove with them,” he said, “and give 
them their freedom back again!” 

It was this event that was so much talked 
about, and which even got into the news¬ 
papers, but which the majority would not 
credit, because some people are not able to be¬ 
lieve that which they themselves have not 
witnessed. 


MOTHER BLACK BEAR 


The trail of the Black Bears ran straight 
over the hard-wood ridge, through a forest of 
thick pine and then on as far as the balsam 
swamp. Along this trail, through the first 
light snow and with a crnel wind cutting down 
from the ridge, Mother Black Bear, a lonely, 
clumsy beast of sable, took her way. 

There was no other bear out; she met none 
of her tribe with whom she had hunted bees’ 
nests in the summer and foraged for beech 
nuts that fall, and as she floundered along she 
stopped now and then to examine the trunks 
of the trees alongside of the path. She stood 
up on her haunches and sniffed at the bark 
and stretched her huge forepaws as far up the 
trunk as she could reach. 

There, higher than any other claw marks of 
the Black Bears that blazed their trail over 
the ridge, Mother Black Bear could make out 
the five-claw scratches of her mate, Father 
Black Bear. Lord of the trail he was and she 
n 


12 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


was proud of it. As the bears hunted and ate 
and traveled through the open weather of their 
country, there in the North, they stopped long 
enough to leave their marks on the trees along 
the trail. A mother with her little black cubs 
would pass; she taught them to stand on their 
hind legs, stretch up, and leave scratches in 
the bark. So she knew if they were growing 
well. A young Black Bear, just able to trail 
by himself; he too left his mark, planning to 
try again next season and see if he could stand 
taller. The big one of the trail; the bears 
could always tell when he had passed by the 
height of his claw prints on some tree. King 
of the Black Bears he was, as they all knew 
very well. 

Mother Bear, fumbling there in the snow 
and the dimness of the woods path, knew him 
and was proud of him, for the King of the 
Black Bears was her mate. 

She went on until she found a place where 
there was a small cave on the other side of the 
ridge with a clearing in front over which the 
snow would drift. This was exactly the spot 
Mother Black Bear wanted. Clumsily and 
still alone, for Father Black Bear had left her 
to shift for herself sometime in the fall, she 


MOTHER BLACK BEAR 


13 


went to work preparing her den for the winter. 
With her sharp claws she dug an opening in 
the cave and then she clumsily bedded it down 
inside with dry leaves. 

She talked as she worked, as the bear tribe 
talked. When a stray young grizzly, having 
hurried along the trail behind her looking for 
news of the Boss of the Road, sniffed at her 
heels, Mother Black Bear growled at him; 

“I am too busy to be interrupted!” she said. 

A crunching of the frozen bushes told her 
that Man, either a wood chopper or a hunter, 
was about. She coughed. 

“Disturb me if you dare!” This was what 
the cough of Mother Black Bear meant. 

And as she dug and spread leaves and finally 
stumbled into the friendly darkness and safety 
of her den, she whined like a lonesome dog 
thinking perhaps of the King of the Black 
Bears, her mate, who was too mighty a person 
to share with her the hazards of the winter. 

The snow came down for weeks. It drifted 
against the front of the den and froze and 
made a mighty white door as stout and thick as 
if it had been cut from stone as a protection 
for some northern castle. The winds swept 
above the cave, and no beasts were out, and in- 


14 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


side all was warm and joyful. Held close to 
her furry breast or snuggling on the floor of 
the cave at her feet, Mother Bear felt two 
little blind, naked cubs. They rolled about 
and wrestled and boxed and fought over food 
in a way that made Mother Black Bear’s heart 
nearly burst with pride. Sons of a king; the 
children of the Boss of the Road! As she 
thought of this, Mother Black Bear spanked 
both cubs soundly to put fear into their hearts 
and train them for the courage they would 
need when it came time for them to join the 
tribe of the bears. And then she hugged them 
until it seemed as if she would choke them, in 
her love and pride of motherhood. 

She would have liked to stay there, feeding 
and fondling her cubs, a long time but spring 
came. There was a sound of dripping, melt¬ 
ing ice and of wild footsteps on top of her cave. 
The door opened itself to green and to the 
smell of fresh bark and uncovered mash. The 
little bears could see now, so the three came out 
and took to the trail. 

Busy days for Mother Bear came. She 
taught the cubs to forage for solid food, to 
swim, to smell out a stray wood mouse for 


MOTHER BLACK BEAR 


15 


lunch and she took them the rounds of the 
berry bushes where, with the summer days, 
the sweet berries would hang among the 
thorns. The little bears grew and ate them¬ 
selves fat and once in a while they trotted away 
from Mother Black Bear to explore the forest 
for themselves. Her whine always brought 
them back, though, and by summer she had 
taught them to steal a bees’ nest and even eat 
the bees themselves if that was necessary in 
order to get the honey. Their fur was jet 
black and as thick and shiny as their father’s. 
How their father would have enjoyed the cubs, 
Mother Black Bear thought! Where was he ? 
Where had the Boss of the Road made his den 
for the winter ? 

One day in the late summer one of the 
little Black Bears sniffed at a pine tree. 
Then he stood up on his haunches and 
stretched up, scratching it with his sharp 
claws. His brother did the same. They went 
on to another tree, feeling for other bear marks 
in the bark as they scratched. Mother Black 
Bear lay down and rolled with delight and 
pride. The cubs had shown that they knew 
the ways of the trail. They were measuring 


16 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


themselves with the other bears. They were 
trying to stretch np to the claw marks of their 
father. 

She let them run quite a distance now, fol¬ 
lowing in her clumsy trot and calling them to 
her for a night under the stars in the shelter of 
a clump of firs. But one night, although 
Mother Bear growled and coughed and 
whined, and padded along all night on the 
ridge road and as far as the balsam swamp, 
she could not find her cubs. Nor was she able 
to find them the following day or for a long 
time. 

The trail knew Mother Bear that season 
as a lonely wanderer. Up and down the hills, 
sniffing in the old dens of the bears, smelling 
all the Black Bears she met, her fur worn thin 
from rubbing against rocks and brambles in 
her search, she hunted for her cubs and never 
found them. Her small bead-like eyes were 
often dimmed with tears as she searched, 
whining and crying, among the claw marks 
that blazed the road of the bears for her chil¬ 
dren. They would grow fast, that she knew. 
Would she know them if she ever did over¬ 
take them ? Would they know her ? Ah, that 
was the question. Would they not, perhaps, 


MOTHER BLACK BEAR 


17 


have forgotten her as had her mate in the 
larger affairs of the forest in which the males 
had a part? 

So it came about that Mother Black Bear 
grew stupid and confused in her grief and her 
loneliness. She took to following anybody, 
even a little dark raccoon, who looked a hit, in 
the night, like a new, fuzzy hear cub. She 
grew careless of her own safety and one day 
she trotted out of the woods and followed a 
farmer’s horse and team, seeing only the black 
horse and hoping for friendliness from him. 
And the farmer, not understanding why this 
bear was trotting behind his team, turned and 
pointed his gun at her. 

Mother Black Bear felt a sharp pain in her 
side and she was only able to drag herself to 
the edge of the woods before she seemed 
to fall into a dream. It was as if she were 
sleeping in her den again, those two little balls 
of black fur close to her heart, and in her sleep 
she whined and cried. 

The business of the King, Mother Black 
Bear’s mate who was Boss of the Road, took 
him for long distances and up the mountain¬ 
side. He believed that his mate and his sons 
ought to take care of themselves, while he 


18 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


blazed a mighty trail, marking trees for miles 
around the country. But when he chanced to 
meet two good-looking young Black Bears that 
season, when he was scouting for honey near 
home, he rubbed noses with them and invited 
them to trail with him. It is a question if he 
loved them as their mother did, but he was 
proud of their thick fur and sharp claws and 
the quick, sure way they had of marking trees. 
The three traveled together, using their claws, 
their noses and their ears. They could get the 
scent of the wind. They could tell by the rus¬ 
tle of leaves when enemies were near. That 
was why Father Black Bear and his two little 
sons turned tail and ran when, surprised in a 
raspberry patch, they heard a shot. That, too, 
is why this Boss of the Road, followed by his 
cubs, went straight, scorning danger, to the 
spot from which they heard the crying of 
Mother Black Bear. 

The three of them licked her side until the 
blood stopped flowing. The three, Father 
Black Bear in his deep voice and the cubs in 
their young grunting voices, called to Mother 
Black Bear to stop crying and stand up, and 
take to the trail. And, being a bear with al¬ 
most as many lives as a cat, she did this, open- 


MOTHER BLACK BEAR 


19 


ing her small black eyes from which tears had 
dripped and rising on shaky, awkward legs to 
fondle the cubs and look with pride at her 
mate. They had supper together, the rest of 
the raspberries and a comb of thick golden 
honey, and when the stars came up the Boss of 
the Road went on, taking his sons with him, 
for their business would call them in the 
morning. 

And Mother Black Bear watched them with 
the greatest happiness in the world. She 
would never den with them. She would prob¬ 
ably never overtake them on the road. But 
her mate was a King and her sons were trail¬ 
ing with a King. The pride of the forest was 
hers forever. 


HILL-NANNY AND HER KIDS 


Once upon a time there was a Hill-Nanny 
who had seven little kids and she came down 
from the hills to find a good home for her chil¬ 
dren in the village. She longed for a spot that 
would be healthful and bright and safe, so she 
wandered here and there, her seven little ones 
following, until she came to a heavily laden 
apple tree. 

“This will make me and my kids a good 
home,” said the Hill-Nanny as she gathered 
her little ones around her and settled down 
under the widespreading branches of the tree. 
But the family had hardly made themelves 
comfortable when the apple tree spoke to the 
Hill-Nanny. 

“This is not the home for you,” it advised 
her. 6 ‘ These apples are ripe and ready to fall, 
and they might kill your little kids. You 
must travel on farther.” 

So the Hill-Nanny called her seven little 

kids to her and they all went on for a mile until 
20 


HILL-NANNY AND HER KIDS 


21 


they came to a fine, large walnut tree full of 
nuts and spreading its branches wide like 
house walls. 

“The very home for me and my little ones!” 
said the Hill-Nanny. Again she called the 
kids to her and they prepared to settle down 
under the shelter of the walnut tree, but the 
walnut tree, also, spoke to her as had the apple 
tree. 

“This is not the home for you,” it warned 
the Hill-Nanny. “These walnuts which I 
bear are heavy as gold and as soon as the frost 
touches them down they will fall and there will 
be danger of their cracking the bones of your 
tender children. You will need to travel on, 
good friend.” 

The Hill-Nanny once more took up her 
journey and this time they all went on until 
they came as far as the border of the village. 
There stood the empty tent of a shepherd, so 
the Hill-Nanny took up residence in it with 
her kids and it seemed now as if she were es¬ 
tablished and need have no further trouble. 

The tent was well furnished with a large 
cooking pot and plenty of straw for beds. 
There was a strong door flap. Here the Hill- 
Nanny settled her children and then she must 


22 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


needs go into the town to get food for them at 
the market stalls, but before she left she 
warned them. 

“Open the door to nobody,” she told the 
seven little kids, “for wild beasts who like the 
taste of goat meat prowl about here. When I 
return I will make myself known to you.” 

So the Hill-Nanny went to the village and 
did her marketing, and when she returned to 
her tent she scratched on the door post and 
called to the seven little kids, “Open, my sons, 
my little fathers! Your mother is come. 
She has brought some bread, half a side 
full of milk, half a horn full of fresh cheese, 
half a horn full of clear water.” The kids 
opened to their mother immediately and they 
enjoyed a fine dinner. 

But the wicked wolf, Levon Ivanovitch, was 
hiding among the trees at the back of the Hill- 
Nanny’s tent, and he had an appetite for the 
seven tender little kids. He listened to what 
the Hill-Nanny said and then he bided his 
time, for the kids were many in number and 
he could afford to wait. 

The next day, since the food was all eaten, 
the Hill-Nanny went again to the village mar¬ 
ket for more, and again she warned the kids 


HILL-NANNY AND HER KIDS 


23 


not to open to strangers, or to anyone save her¬ 
self whom they would know by the scratching 
on the door post and by her voice as she told of 
her arrival. Off she went, and after waiting 
a sufficient length of time, the wolf, Levon 
Ivanovitch, came creeping up to the door and 
he scratched on the door post. 

“Who comes?” enquired the smallest and 
youngest of the seven little kids. 

“It is I, your loving mother, 'Anna Iva¬ 
novna, ’ ’ said the wolf. 4 4 Open at once. Open, 
my sons, my little fathers; your mother is 
come! She has brought some bread, she has 
brought half a sideful of milk, half a horn full 
of cheese, half a horn full of clear water.” 
Levon Ivanovitch recited all this very well, 
for he had learned it carefully, but he had for¬ 
gotten to disguise his voice. The seven little 
kids knew him for an enemy. 4 4 We will not 
open to you, wicked Levon Ivanovitch! We 
know you by your rough voice!” they said. 
And six of the seven little kids hid themselves 
in the straw of the tent, but the seventh and 
smallest little kid, who was very clever for his 
age, hid himself in the empty iron dinner pot. 

But the wolf was not through with them yet, 
as he was very hungry for goat meat. So he 


24 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


went on to the village and he paid the village 
smith a gold rouble for smoothing down his 
voice. He had it so well polished and 
smoothed by the blacksmith that it sounded 
exactly like the voice of the Hill-Nanny. 
When he had accomplished this, the wolf 
hastened back to the goats’ tent so as to reach 
it before their mother, and again he scratched 
loudly on the door post. 

44 Who comes?” enquired the sixth little kid 
from their straw. 

4 4 Your loving mother, Anna Ivanovna, 
comes!” replied the wolf in his smoothly pol¬ 
ished and well oiled voice. 

He sounded like their mother now, so the 
little kids came out of their straw and spoke 
to him again. 4 4 How can you prove to us that 
you are our mother ? ’ ’ they asked. 

44 By my gifts, dear little ones,” said the 
wolf. 4 4 Here I stand, Anna Ivanovna, bear¬ 
ing for you some bread, half a sideful of milk, 
half a horn full of cheese and half a horn full 
of clear water. Open to me at once!” 

And those six unwise little kids opened the 
door to their tent, and in six mouthfuls Levon 
Ivanovitch, the wolf, had swallowed them. 


HILL-NANNY AND HER KIDS 


25 


But he did not eat the seventh little kid, for he 
was still hidden in the dinner pot. 

Presently the Hill-Nanny came home and 
she found the tent door open, and six of her 
kids gone, and the footprints of Levon Ivano- 
vitch nearby. The seventh and youngest of 
the kids crept out of the dinner pot and told 
his mother what had happened and she set out, 
very angry, to try and find the wolf. 

The Hill-Nanny traveled until she came to 
a place where some workmen had built a fire 
over which to cook their midday gruel. The 
fire still burned, and she went to the den of 
Levon Ivanovitch and challenged him to come 
with her and show his skill by leaping over 
the fire. He had said that he feared nothing, 
so he had to follow the Hill-Nanny and try to 
leap over the burning coals. But she had scat¬ 
tered them so that Levon Ivanovitch burned 
his feet and had to lie down at her side, alone 
and unprotected in the forest. The Hill- 
Nanny had brought her scissors, so she slit the 
coat of the greedy Levon and out jumped her 
six little kids as lively as ever. 

When the sky is dark and gloomy, like some 
faraway forest infested with wolves, and a 


26 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


small tinge of red, like a fire, glows suddenly 
in it, then watch for the sun, its rays coming 
forth from the darkness as cheerfully as did 
the little white kids escape from the clutches 
of Levon Ivanovitch. So the little Russian 
children love and interpret the story of Anna 
Ivanovna, the Hill-Nanny, who saved her kids 
from the great gray wolf, Levon Ivanovitch. 


AT HOME 



THE HOUSE IN THE SIDE OF 
THE HILL 


Father Woodchuck sat at the door of his 
little house in the side of the hill sunning him¬ 
self. He was feeling very happy and con¬ 
tented, for the house was dug deep and long, 
the season was the spring and everything 
pointed to a good crop of vegetables in the 
kitchen gardens. 

Father Woodchuck had another reason for 
his pleasant feelings. Not far from their 
doorway played his four little Woodchuck 
boys. They were small, not very much larger 
than fat kittens, but they would grow. They 
all had shovel shaped feet like their father’s 
feet, and the four Woodchuck boys were bur¬ 
rowing and digging themselves a play-house 
in the soft dirt of the hill. When they grew 
up, each of the boys would have a home of his 
own in the side of a hill or under some sunny 
orchard wall. Now, as they made their play¬ 
house, the little Woodchucks were thinking 


30 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


about these homes, planning them as they dug 
fast and threw the dirt high in the air. Their 
father watched them with a great deal of 
pride. 

The earth, tossed up from their small shovel 
feet, had the odor of the spring. Close at 
hand were green twigs which tasted, as the 
young Woodchucks nibbled the bark, as 
good as sticks of candy do to human boys. It 
was a pleasant, peaceful afternoon for them 
all. 

Suddenly, however, there was a sound. It 
was a shrill whistle coming to the young 
Woodchucks from the direction of their house 
in the side of the hill. One of the Wood¬ 
chuck boys started to run as fast as his short, 
fat legs would carry him, and two other broth¬ 
ers followed in his tracks. They knew what 
that whistle meant. They reached home 
safely and saw Father Woodchuck’s round 
brown head peering cautiously out of the 
hole which was their front door. He was whis¬ 
tling through his sharp, yellow teeth to call the 
boys, for he had heard the footsteps of Jack, 
the farmer’s dog, coming across the field. 

“Where is your brother?” Father Wood¬ 
chuck asked in his “chuck” way, half cough, 


THE HOUSE IN THE SIDE OF THE HILL 31 

half squealing bark, his small bead-like eyes 
peering across the field. 

“He kept on digging,” they told him. 

But when Jack passed around the hill and 
Father Woodchuck knew that it was safe to 
go out again, they found the 'fourth Wood¬ 
chuck boy unharmed over in their play-house. 
He was whistling softly to himself, for he felt 
proud. He had not obeyed his father, but had 
crept under a bush to hide, and the dog had 
not found him. 

Father Woodchuck was puzzled. He did 
not know what to do about the young Wood¬ 
chuck who had not obeyed him. While his 
children were small, he spent nearly all his 
time watching and listening for dogs, and 
looking out for traps, and whistling to warn 
the boys of danger. Always this fourth 
Woodchuck boy kept right on with whatever 
he was doing and did not come when he heard 
his father call. Even their mother did not 
know what to do with him. 

So things went on until a day when Father 
Woodchuck knew that crisp green lettuce 
heads were to be found in the farm garden, and 
beans and peas had begun to fill and fatten the 
pods. Father Woodchuck decided that now 


32 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


had come a time to plan a picnic for the boys. 
It was to be an evening picnic. 

The Woodchuck family napped in the sun 
nearly all day so as to be better able to enjoy 
themselves. When evening came and the 
moon shone down on them from the hill like a 
great silver platter, they started out. Father 
Woodchuck went first to show the way and the 
four Woodchuck boys followed. They scam¬ 
pered down the hill and through the long grass 
in the field. They were on their way to the 
kitchen garden of the farm where their picnic 
was to be held. 

“Keep close to me, lads!” Father Wood¬ 
chuck warned in his throaty bark. “This is 
a dangerous trip.” They crawled under a 
fence, called by their father’s low whistle, and 
began to feast. They gnawed the juicy cen¬ 
ters of young lettuce and opened bean pods. 
The boys swelled and puffed up as they gorged 
themselves with food until they looked like 
little fur muffs. No one saw them or inter¬ 
fered with them. They seemed alone in a 
world of vegetables, and the fourth Wood¬ 
chuck boy fed farther and farther away from 
the others. He felt that he was quite safe in 
doing so. 


THE HOUSE IN THE SIDE OF THE HILL 33 

Suddenly the air was thrilled with a pierc¬ 
ing whistle. There was a scuttling among the 
lettuce heads, and Father Woodchuck and the 
three obedient Woodchuck boys escaped 
through the fence just in time. Jack, the 
farm dog, had awakened and was after them. 

“Who cares for danger! I’m all right,” 
whistled the care-free fourth Woodchuck boy 
as he opened another bean pod. When he saw 
his danger, it was too late for him to run. 

The next morning Father Woodchuck did 
not whistle as he sat in the door of the house 
in the side of the hill. He felt too sad. The 
sun was as warm and bright as usual, the hill 
quite as green and he knew that it was an un¬ 
usually fine season for green vegetables, but 
he saw only three Woodchuck boys digging 
their play-house nearby. 

But late that afternoon, the fourth Wood¬ 
chuck boy limped down the hill and home. 

“This way! Here I am, lad!” whistled 
Father Woodchuck joyfully as the Wood¬ 
chuck boy, on three shovel feet, came to the 
house in the side of the hill. The fourth 
shovel foot had been left in Jack’s teeth, but 
Father Woodchuck was glad to welcome even 
a three-legged child, for had he not lost his 


34 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


foot in the cause of animal wisdom? So the 
fourth little Woodchuck sat in the doorway 
with his father and watched his three brothers 
at play, and listened with attention to all his 
father had to teach him about dogs and traps 
and minding one’s parents. 


TOBY 


Toby was a tyke, a very ordinary dog. He 
had not one good feature except his teeth and 
his eyes and his bark, if that can be called a 
feature. His color was black and white, and 
his shape was leggy and clumsy; altogether 
a kind of cur. 

My brother, William, found Toby in the cen¬ 
ter of a crowd of street boys who were drown¬ 
ing him slowly in Lochend Loch, doing their 
best to make him suffer a long time, and get 
what to them seemed the greatest fun out of 
hurting a lonely dog. 

But even then Toby showed his unusual 
sense of fun by pretending he was dead before 
he was really drowned and in that way was 
saying time and trying to think of a way to 
escape. And my brother William bought him 
for twopence which he paid to the biggest boys 
and he and Toby watched them fight for it, one 
penny going off with a very small and swift 

35 


36 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


one of them. The other penny rolled hope¬ 
lessly into the grating of a drain. 

Toby hid in our house for weeks, known to 
nobody but ourselves two and the cook, and, 
because of our grandmother’s love of tidiness, 
even then, although he had been saved from 
drowning, the dog might have been sent away 
from us if he had not once, in his straightfor¬ 
ward way, walked right into our father’s 
bedroom. 

He introduced himself with a wag of his tail 
and a general air of willingness to be happy. 
My father laughed at him most heartily, and 
at last Toby, having got his way to father’s 
bare feet and having begun to lick his soles and 
between his toes with his small, rough tongue, 
father gave such a shout of laughter for a 
minister that we, grandmother, sisters, all of 
us, went in. 

I somehow think Toby must have been up 
to all this, for he had a peculiar love of father 
ever after, but regarded grandmother with a 
careful and cool eye. 

When he was full grown Toby was a strong, 
coarse dog, common in shape, in countenance, 
in hair, and in manner. He was of the bull 
terrier variety, of a dubious and varied fam- 


TOBY 


37 


ily. His teeth were good and he had a large 
head and a rich bark as of a dog three times 
his size, and a tail which I never saw equalled. 
Indeed it was a tail of immense girth and not 
short, equal throughout like a policeman’s 
club. It was a piece of machinery of great 
power and Toby used it in a way I never be¬ 
fore or since have known of. We called it 
his ruler. 

When he wanted to come into the house, he 
first whined gently, then he growled, then a 
sharp bark, and then came a loud and mighty 
thump that shook the house. This thump we 
found out, after much study and watching, 
was done by bringing the entire length of his 
tail flat upon the door with a sudden and solid 
stroke. He was perfect at it at once, his 
first bang being as masterly and telling as his 
last. 

With all his common airs, Toby was a good 
dog,‘loving, faithful and honest as far as he 
knew how to be and with a sense of fun as 
strong as his tail. Our father, in his sober 
way, was very fond of Toby and they must 
have had some good times together, for we 
used to hear bursts of laughter from his study 
when they two were by themselves. One can 


38 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


fancy father in the midst of his books and ser¬ 
mon writing, and then looking at Toby cours¬ 
ing and gurrin y round the room, upsetting my 
father’s books laid out on the floor for consul¬ 
tation—and father shaking with laughter. 

Toby always wanted to go up to town with 
father. This a minister’s good taste forbade, 
but Toby, making it his entire object, got his 
way. He was nowhere to be seen, ever, on 
father’s starting out; he however saw him, 
and lay in wait at the head of the street, and 
up Leith Walk he kept him in view from the 
opposite side like a detective. Then, when 
Toby knew that he couldn’t be hounded home, 
he crossed over, waving his large tail, and of 
course very happy. 

One Sunday Toby followed father to 
church, but was left in disgrace at the vestry 
door. The second psalm was given out, and 
my father was sitting back in the pulpit when 
the door at its back, through which he came 
from the vestry, was seen to move, and then 
gently open. After a long pause, a black 
shining nose pushed its way steadily toward 
the congregation, and was followed by Toby’s 
entire body. He looked a bit ashamed, but 
was snuffing for his friend and advanced as if 


TOBY 


39 


he were treading on thin ice. Not seeing him, 
he put his forelegs on the pnlpit and looked up. 
There he was, his own familiar chum! 

"William and I watched all this, and any¬ 
thing more beautiful than the dog’s happy 
face, his look of comfort, of entire ease when 
he saw my father—the smoothing down of his 
anxious ears, the swing of gladness of his great 
tail—I don’t expect to see soon again. My 
father quietly opened the pulpit door, and 
Toby was at his feet and invisible to all but 
himself. Had my father sent old George 
Peaston, the “minister’s man,” to put him out 
Toby would probably have shown his teeth and 
astonished George. He slunk home as soon 
as he could, and he never went to church again. 

Toby was in the way of burying his bones in 
the small gardens before his own and the 
neighboring doors. Mr. Scrymgeour, two 
doors off, a bulky, red-haired, red-faced man, 
was, by the law of contrast, a fine gardener. 
One day, Mr. Scrymgeour’s gate being open, 
in walked Toby with a huge bone and making 
a hole where Scrymgeour had two minutes be¬ 
fore been planting some precious slip, the 
name of which on a stick Toby made very 
light of, he put his bone in the hole instead. 


40 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


He was just covering it up with his shovelling 
nose when old Scrymgeour spied him through 
the hot house door, and was out upon him with 
a roar and a terrible growl. 

If he had hut tried to explain Toby’s mis¬ 
take in a reasonable way it might have been all 
right with the dog. But instantly, with a roar 
as loud as his, Toby made straight for him. I 
was watching beneath the fence and saw it all. 
Toby’s eyes flashed. He continued to roar 
and he so surprised Scrymgeour that he 
turned and ran, Toby following him until he 
tripped and fell on his own doorstep, barely 
stretching himself out in his hall in time. 
Toby barked at the door and then went back to 
finish his bone-planting at his leisure, the vic¬ 
tor, while our neighbor glared at him through 
a window but came no farther. 

From that moment Toby was a changed dog. 
Pluck at first sight was lord of all. From that 
time dated an even louder thumping of his tail 
at our front door, which we called, “Come, 
listen to my tail!” That very evening Toby 
paid a visit to Leo, a nearby dog, a big bully 
and coward, and who had threatened Toby 
with instant death many times, being larger 
and a brute. To Leo Toby paid a visit that 


TOBY 


41 


very evening, down into his den, and walked 
about as much as to say, 

“Come on, Macduff!” 

But Leo did not come on. And after that 
they merely stiffened themselves when they 
met, made their backs rigid, pretended not to 
see each other, walked solemnly around as is 
the manner of dogs, and there was an armed 
truce between the two. 

Toby used his new found courage well, but 
wisely. He chased cats and astonished beg¬ 
gars, held his own in his own garden against 
all strange dogs and was the victor in some 
good fights. But he was never quarrelsome or 
foolhardy. It was very odd how his manner 
changed, how he held his head up, and how 
much pleasanter he was at home. To our 
father, next to William, Toby remained 
staunch. And what of his end? 

Well, the hard part of it is that a dog dies, 
but this has its comforts. If they lived as 
long as we, and we loved them still the same, 
and they then died, it would be a thing we 
could not stand. 


WHY THE CAT SCRATCHES 

There was not a crumb of bread, a morsel of 
cheese or any fruit left in the house for the 
children, so the elder sister, Maria, decided to 
go out and try to find her fortune in the world. 
No, there was not even a cat in the house, and 
that was the hardest part of it all, for the cat 
in that land of sunshine and blue sky, in Italy, 
was the good spirit of the house. 

So Maria tied her kerchief over her head and 
took a staff to help her steps, and went off, 
down the road and then into the forest that 
led up the mountain side. 

It was a deep and gloomy forest. Maria 
met nobody, and shadows lay across her path 
and tears dimmed her eyes, for she was weary 
and half starved. But still she pressed on for 
a day and a night under the stars, and for an¬ 
other day when she suddenly had an adven¬ 
ture. Toward twilight she came upon a pal¬ 
ace built at the very summit of a mountain. 
It was dim and shadowy and strange, but 
Maria went boldly up to the door and knocked. 

42 


WHY THE CAT SCRATCHES 


43 


No sound came from inside, but there was 
at last a small light showing through a window. 
The door opened partly and a kitten stood 
there with a torch in its paw, not speaking, 
but opening the door wide enough for Maria to 
step inside. There was a long hall, empty, 
and with scant furnishings except for the furs 
of their ancestors which the occupants of the 
enchanted castle had hung in places of honor 
upon the walls. It needed no light, for the 
kitten could see very well in the dark. Down 
this hall Maria went, and suddenly she found 
herself alone, with only the small torch to guide 
her. The kitten had disappeared as softly as 
it had opened the door. 

Maria went in amazement from one room to 
another of the castle. She found a couch 
upon which she slept until morning, and there 
was food for her in the kitchen, but every¬ 
where was disorder and confusion. It was as 
if the cats went out for pleasure every day 
and left their housekeeping undone. They 
had beds with silken hangings, but these were 
not made. Indeed they looked as if the cats 
had gone to bed with muddy paws. The fire 
was out. No water was drawn from the well. 
No baking had been done. 


44 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


When Maria tried the gates of the castle, 
she discovered that she had been locked inside. 
But she was a brave, kind girl, and the little 
mother for the others at home, so her heart 
was filled with compassion for these cats who 
had no housekeeper. 

“I will put their castle in good order,” she 
said to herself, “and then we shall see what we 
shall see!” 

So Maria went swiftly and busily from room 
to room. She aired and made the beds for 
half a hundred strange cats. She swept the 
floors of the score of rooms of the castle, all 
save one, the door of which was barred. She 
cleaned the hearth and brought wood and 
water and kept a bright fire burning. Was it 
her fancy, or did the cats’ housekeeper hear 
the sound of purring beside the fire in the eve¬ 
ning, although she could see not so much as a 
cat’s tail ?. She baked half a hundred loaves of 
bread and half a hundred cheese cakes and 
scoured half a hundred silver bowls for milk 
and skimmed cream and saw that all the mouse 
traps were baited and set. All these good 
services Maria did alone and without help or 
company, but hoping that some evening the 


WHY THE CAT SCRATCHES 45 

cats who lived in the castle would come home 
and set her free. 

She kept the castle well and shining, and 
one day when her work was done Maria put 
her eye to the keyhole of the mysterious locked 
door. There was a soft footfall behind her. 
There, once more, stood the kitten but this 
time, instead of a torch, he held a great key. 
He unlocked the door and there, before Maria, 
was a great, golden throne room with the king 
of the cats, surrounded by half a hundred fine 
court cats, sitting on the throne. 

His fur was as yellow as the sunlight and 
he wore a glittering gold crown. He motioned 
for Maria to come nearer, which she did, and 
then he rang a golden bell with a golden chain 
as a signal for silence in the court. 

“Has this mortal done anything deserving 
of alms?” asked the king of the cats. 

Then the court cats fairly interrupted each 
other trying to tell of Maria’s goodness to 
them, and of her skill as a housekeeper. They 
had slept in the beds she had made. They 
had purred, unseen, beside her fire. They had 
eaten of her baking. And as the cats told of 
these kind deeds, the king of the cats asked 


46 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


Maria to spread out her apron. He Med her 
apron with gold pieces until it was full and 
heavy, after which the kitten escorted her to 
the castle gates, unbarred them, and she took 
her way down the mountain to her home. 

Now there was rejoicing in one home of 
Tuscany. Oil and honey and plenty of bread 
and new dresses for all the children and some¬ 
thing beside for alms! The neighbors won¬ 
dered at the good fortune in a home where 
there had been such poverty, and Maria, in a 
luckless moment, told of the enchanted castle 
of the cats at the summit of the mountain. 

There was the daughter of a rich farmer, 
whose vineyards were hung thick with grapes, 
nearby. This girl lacked for nothing, but she 
decided to go the same way that Maria had, up 
to the top of the mountain, and try her fortune 
in the castle. 

Everything that had happened to Maria 
came to this avaricious girl. She took her 
way to the castle, was admitted by the kitten, 
and left alone. She found the same disorder 
as Maria had, but she was lazy as well as grasp¬ 
ing. Did she make a cat’s bed'? Not one. 
Did she lay a comfortable fire for a cat to doze 
by at night? No, she was too lazy to bring in 


WHY THE CAT SCRATCHES 47 

wood. Did she bake bread and fill bowls with 
cream for them ? No, she baked bread for her¬ 
self and drank up all the cream. And 
presently it came about that this second 
housekeeper in the enchanted castle of the 
cats, was brought into the presence of the king. 

She came boldly, pushing aside the court 
cats and demanding riches from the king. 
“You gave alms to my neighbor, Maria. Give 
gold to me!” she cried. 

“ What does this newest housekeeper of ours 
deserve?” asked the king of the cats. And 
this was the signal for a very unexpected 
proceeding. 

All the cats rushed toward this unkind 
creature whom they had entertained and 
scratched her. Indeed, she would have been 
scratched by all the cats if she had not run 
away as quickly as she did, down the mountain, 
and home half beside herself with fright. 

And it is said that this was the beginning of 
scratching, if one ill treated a cat. Those 
children who were kind to the subjects of the 
king of the cats, to these the cats were kind. 
Which is, after all, a good deal the way of the 
world. 




















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WITH THE CHILDREN 




HOW I LEARNED TO RIDE 
HORSEBACK 


When I was a little boy, we four brothers 
had our lessons every day except Sundays and 
holidays, when we were free and could play to¬ 
gether. One time father said; 

“You older children must learn to ride 
horseback. You must be sent to the riding 
school.” 

I was the youngest and I asked; “Can’t I 
be sent too?” 

My father said; “You would tumble off.” 

I began to beg him to let me learn too, and 
I almost cried. My father said; “Very well, 
then, you shall take riding lessons with the 
others. Only see here; don’t you cry if you 
fall off. One who never falls from a horse 
will never learn to ride.” 

When Wednesday came we were taken to 
the riding school. We went up a great stair¬ 
case, and from the great staircase we went up 

a narrow staircase. And the narrow stair- 
51 


52 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


case opened into a large room. In this room 
was sand instead of a board floor, and gentle¬ 
men and ladies as well as lads like ourselves 
were riding horseback. This was the riding 
school. 

It was rather dark and there was an odor 
of horses, and we could hear people cracking 
whips and shouting to horses and the pound¬ 
ing of horses’ hoofs against the wooden par¬ 
titions. At first I was afraid and could not 
make anything out distinctly. But afterward 
our tutor called the riding master and said; 
“Give these lads some horses. They are to 
learn to ride.” 

4 4 Yery well, ’ ’ said the riding master. Then 
he looked at me. 4 4 This one is very small, ’ ’ he 
said. 

But our tutor said; 44 He has promised not 
to cry if he falls off.” 

The riding master laughed and went away. 

So the saddle horses were brought, we took 
off our cloaks and took our places in the riding 
room. The riding master held the horse by 
the bridle and my brothers rode around. At 
first they walked; then they trotted. At last 
a little pony was brought out. He was a 


HOW I LEARNED TO RIDE HORSEBACK 


53 


chestnut color, and his tail had been stylishly 
cropped. His name was Chervonchick. The 
riding master laughed and said to me; “Well, 
Cavalier, mount! ’ ’ 

I was both glad and unhappy, but I tried to 
hide my feelings so that none of the other 
riders would notice my sadness. I made sev¬ 
eral attempts to set my foot in the stirrup but 
it was in vain, for I was too small. Then the 
riding master lifted me in his arms and set 
me on the pony’s back, saying; “The lad is not 
heavy. He can’t weigh very many pounds.” 

At first he held me by the arm, but when he 
saw that I did not want to be helped, because 
my brothers were now riding alone, he let go 
of me. He asked me; “Aren’t you afraid, 
then?” 

I was very much afraid, but I said that I 
was not. I was all the more afraid, because 
Chervonchick kept pricking back his ears, 
and I made up my mind that he must be angry 
with me. The riding master said; 

“Well, you smallest one, only mind that you 
don’t faU off!” 

At first Chervonchick walked around, and 
I sat up straight. But the saddle was slip- 


54 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


pery, and I had a feeling that I should fall off. 

“Well, now,” said the riding master as I 
passed him, “are you on firmly?” 

“Yes,” said I. 

“Then trot!” he said, clucking with his 
tongue at Chervonchick. With that Chervon- 
chick started off in a gentle trot, and I began 
to slip. Still I said nothing, and tried to tip 
over sidewise. The riding master praised me. 

“Bravo, my Cavalier! Splendid!” he 
shouted, and this gave me courage. 

But just then my riding master was joined 
by one of his associates, and began talking 
to him, and his attention was turned from me. 
Then suddenly I became aware that I was still 
slipping a little toward one side of my saddle. 
I tried to regain my seat, but all in vain. I 
wanted to cry to the riding master to come to 
my help, but I thought this would be a cow¬ 
ardly thing for a boy to do, and so I kept 
quiet. 

I looked at the riding master and thought 
that he would see me, but he was talking busily 
and as I passed, without turning his head in 
my direction, he said something kind about, 
“his brave little Cavalier!” By this time I 
was far over on one side and very much terri- 


HOW I LEARNED TO RIDE HORSEBACK 55 

fied. I felt certain that I was going to tum¬ 
ble. But still I was ashamed to cry out. 

Chervonchick gave me one more little shake, 
and down I went on the ground. Then Cher¬ 
vonchick stopped too, all of his own accord. 
The riding master looked round, and saw that 
I was no longer on the pony’s back. Saying; 
6 ‘Hullo, there, my Cavalier has fallen off,” 
he hastened toward me. 

He helped me up and I found out that I 
was not in the least hurt. He brushed me off 
and laughed and said, “A child’s body is like 
a fat little cushion!” 

But I felt like crying. 

Yet I asked him to mount me again, and he 
did so. This time I did not fall off. 

In this way we went to the riding school 
twice a week and I soon learned to ride well, 
and was afraid of nothing. 


THE NEW BROOM 

He was a most un-beautiful dog, a kind of 
spaniel whose long hair was the color of dust 
and which was always getting tangled and full 
of cockle-burs. He had no settled home, but 
was continually following children whom he 
met in the road, because he had a hope that he 
might be allowed to play with them. But 
nearly always the children, especially the lit¬ 
tle girls whom the dog would have liked to 
smother with his wet kisses, looked at his 
shaggy hair covering his kind eyes, and at his 
muddy feet, and then told him to go home. 

Ah, if only the dog had been able to do that, 
go home. His roof was the sky, whether it 
stormed or shone, and his bed was a hay cock 
or the shelter of a hedge. Yet he awoke every 
morning with high hope in his heart, and one 
of his outlandish ears cocked at attention for 
the voice of a possible friend. 

The children were playing circus when he 
met them in the road outside of their home. 

56 


THE NEW BROOM 


57 


One child blew the trumpet and another 
played the drum, while a third wore a clown’s 
cap. The dog went mad with delight at the 
fun. He sat up in the road in front of them 
and did tricks, old tricks that he had learned 
when he was a puppy and had given promise 
of being handsomer than he had turned out to 
be. He saluted the circus. He begged in 
front of the drummer. He barked hoarsely, 
his mouth dripping with his excitement. 

“He looks just like a clown!” said the child 
with the cap. “Here, Punch, let us see if you 
can walk in the circus on your back legs,” and 
the boy set his clown’s cap on the dog’s touzled 
head. 

Could he ? Could a dog who had been wel¬ 
comed by children and called by a name, help 
them with their play? Punch wore the cap 
as carefully and with as great pride as if he 
had been newly made a major-general. One 
of his great paws steadied in the boy’s hand, 
and wearing the clown’s cap as well as he 
could, he walked on his back legs, there at the 
head of the procession. Would it stop at the 
gate of the home? Would the dog clown be 
left outside, or would they open the gate and 
allow him to walk in ? The dog quivered with 


58 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


fear as they reached the gate, but he was led 
in. 

“Come in, Punch!” the children told him. 
“Good dog Punch; come in and play with us.” 

It had been a long time since the dog had 
played, but after a dish of bones and gravy, 
he was ready for anything. They dressed him 
up, first, for they found how willing he was 
to please children. He wore the soldier’s cap 
and sat up with the air-gun held at attention 
in his paws. He felt himself honored at wear¬ 
ing a shawl and the baby’s old hood with a pair 
of spectacles tied over his ears, and when the 
children shouted at the funny sight he made, 
Punch beat the ground in a steady thumping 
with his tail, for he knew he was giving 
pleasure. 

In the afternoon Punch and the children 
had a game of hare-and-hounds. The dog 
soon learned how to play the game, because it 
was a good deal like what his life had been, 
trying to dodge and escape danger, doubling 
and re-doubling along the roads and hiding 
from his enemies. So Punch led the children 
a fine, thrilling chase over the fields and 
woods for an hour at a time, doubling and re- 


THE NEW BROOM 


doubling on his tracks, giving his throaty 
bark to lead them on, hiding from them, and 
then calling to them from some unexpected 
place just ahead. He was better at catching 
them than they were at finding him, and when 
he did surprise a child in a hollow or behind a 
tree, Punch stood up with his paws on the 
child’s shoulders and kissed its face all over 
to show his gratitude for their goodness to a 
stray dog. 

Well, the end of that nice day came, and it 
was a question with the children about taking 
Punch in with them for tea. They always 
had their tea by themselves up in the nursery, 
and they felt that if their mother had been 
home it would have been quite proper to invite 
Punch to have a bowl of bread and milk or a 
sandwich with them, but she was unfortunately 
away. And Cook thought dogs were dirty and 
a nuisance in the house. 

It was decided at last that the oldest child, 
a girl, should bring the tea up from the 
kitchen to the nursery herself, to save Cook 
the trouble of climbing the stairs twice. They 
took the dog in through the front door, and 
when he tried to bark with his joy, they cov- 


60 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


ered his nose with a cap. “You must come in 
very quietly, Punch,” they warned him “or 
we won’t be allowed to keep you.” 

Everything went as the children had 
planned it. The oldest girl brought their 
supper on a tray from the kitchen up to the 
nursery and they all, Punch helping, ate it to¬ 
gether. Then the children went to bed alone 
and much more peacefully than they had in a 
long time, and the last thing they did was to 
cover Punch up with a rug in front of the fire. 
He looked like a part of the rug and in the 
morning they planned to get him as quietly 
out of the house again. 

All would have been well with the dog if he 
had not all his life wanted sugar. When he 
was a puppy his master had taught him Ms 
tricks by balancing sugar on his nose and 
allowing him to swallow it when he had been a 
good dog. There on the uncleared nursery 
tea table was a whole bowl of lumps of sugar. 

One should remember that this dog had 
been a wanderer of roads, a poor outcast for 
a long time and had forgotten Ms manners. 
Perhaps, too, he may have thought that the 
children had left the sugar there for him, Ms 
reward for all the tricks he had done for them 


THE NEW BROOM 


61 


that day. However it was, he ate all the sugar 
from the sugar bowl on the tea table and then 
he lay down again in front of the fire, his 
sticky paws stretched out to the friendly blaze. 

The Cook was late about coming up to 
straighten out the nursery that evening. She 
brought her broom to sweep up the crumbs 
and at first, in the dim light from the fire, she 
never saw the shadow on the hearth rug that 
was Punch. But he saw the empty sugar 
bowl. Then she went over to stir up the fire 
and she saw Punch asleep, with his sticky paws 
laid out in front of him. 

Bang, whack, bang! Oh, it was cruel the 
way Cook beat Punch with the broom. He 
had been dreaming of his happy day, giving 
now and then little yelps of joy and twitch¬ 
ing his nose. Now he started up and ran cry¬ 
ing down the stairs, Cook pursuing him and 
driving him out into the chilly night. She 
slammed the kitchen door in his face but she 
left the broom standing out there on the step. 

It was, then, all over with him, the dog 
thought. He must take to roads again and 
start once more following children. But first 
there was something for him to do. He took 
the broom in his teeth. He shook it, broke the 


62 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


handle, pulled out every last one of the straws, 
chewed them, tossed them about until there 
was nothing left of the broom. Then Punch 
went out of the garden gate and up the street. 

He walked about and howled all that night. 
He trotted behind the milkman hack to the 
house in the morning hut did not dare go 
inside the grounds. He skulked about the 
neighborhood at school time and followed the 
children to school, his tail between his legs, 
and keeping out of their sight. He waited at 
the back of the school house for them and went 
about a block behind them to a store. 

They bought a broom, a new broom! 

The dog trembled in every muscle. That 
new broom, he knew, was for beating him and 
driving him away. He was just about to take 
to his heels as they came out of the store carry¬ 
ing the broom, when he heard the boy’s voice. 

4i Poor Punch!” he said. “Good old Punch, 
nice doggie!” echoed the girl. 

A dog hears more than we do. Punch heard 
this as the children spoke his name. “We are 
going to protect our dog. This is a new broom 
for Cook, bought with our own money but not 
to be used on a dog. We wish we might see 
that nice playful dog again.” 


THE NEW BROOM 


63 


“Here I am!” barked the dog, running up 
to the children. Not all the brooms in the 
world could keep him away from them, having 
heard the music of their voices, having had his 
hopes for love and a home realized. 


*THE STRANGE HISTORY OF 
CAGNOTTE 


A little boy of three years old, named 
Theophile Gautier, travelled with his parents 
from Tarbes, in the south of France, to Paris. 
He was so small that he could not speak any 
proper French, but talked like the country 
people; and he divided the world into those 
who spoke like him and were his friends, and 
those who did not, and were strangers. 

But though he was only three, and a great 
baby in many ways, he loved his home dearly 
and it nearly broke his heart to come away. 
His parents tried to comfort him by giving 
him the most beautiful chocolates and little 
cakes, and when these failed they tried what 
drums and trumpets would do. But drums 
and trumpets succeeded no better than the 
sweets, for the better part of Theophile’s tears 
were shed for the dog he had been obliged to 

i Keproduced by permission from the Animal Story Book, edi¬ 
ted by Andrew Lang. Copyright by Longmans, Green and Co. 

64 


THE STRANGE HISTORY OF CAGNOTTE 65 

leave behind him, called Cagnotte, which his 
father had given away to a friend. He did 
not think that any dog who had been ac¬ 
customed to run along the hills and valleys 
above Tarbes could ever make himself happy 
in Paris. 

Theophile, however, did not understand 
this, but cried for Cagnotte all day long. And 
one morning he could bear it no longer. His 
nurse had put his tin soldiers neatly on the 
table, with a little village surrounded by stiff 
green trees just in front of them, hoping Theo¬ 
phile might play at battle or a siege, and she 
had just placed his fiddle, which was painted 
bright scarlet, quite handy, so that he might 
play the triumphal march of the victor. 

Nothing was of any use. As soon as her 
back was turned, Theophile threw the soldiers 
and village and fiddle out of the window, and 
then prepared to jump out after them, so that 
he might take the shortest way back to Tarbes 
and Cagnotte. 

Luckily his nurse caught him just in time, 
setting him on her knee and asking him why 
he was planning to do anything so naughty 
and dangerous. When Theophile explained 
that it was Cagnotte whom he wanted and 


66 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


must have, she told him that if he would only 
have patience and wait a little while, Cagnotte 
would come to him. 

All day long Theophile gave his nurse no 
peace. Every few minutes he came running 
to know if Cagnotte had arrived, and he was 
only quieted when she went out and brought 
in a small dog, which in some ways was like 
his beloved Cagnotte. Theophile was not 
quite satisfied with it, until he remembered 
that Cagnotte must have travelled a long way, 
and it was not to be expected that he would 
look the same dog as when he started. So he 
put aside his doubts and knelt down to give 
Cagnotte a great hug of welcome. 

The new Cagnotte, like the old, was a lovely 
black poodle and had excellent manners, be¬ 
sides being full of fun. He licked Theophile 
on both cheeks, and was altogether so friendly 
that he was ready to eat bread and butter off 
the same plate as his little master. 

The two got on beautifully and were per¬ 
fectly happy for some time, and then grad¬ 
ually Cagnotte began to lose his spirits and 
instead of running and jumping about the 
world, he moved slowly, as if he was in pain. 
He breathed shortly and heavily and refused 


THE STRANGE HISTORY OF CAGNOTTE 67 

to eat anything, and even Theophile could see 
the dog was feeling ill. 

One day Cagnotte was lying stretched out 
on his master’s lap, and Theophile was softly 
stroking his skin, when suddenly his hand 
caught in what seemed to be string, or strong 
thread. In great surprise his nurse was 
called at once to explain the matter. She 
stooped down and peered closely at the dog’s 
skin, then took her scissors and cut the thread. 
Cagnotte stretched himself, gave a shake, and 
jumped down from Theophile’s lap, leaving a 
black sheep-skin behind him. 

Some wicked men had sewed him up in this 
coat, so that they might get more money for 
him; and without it he was not a poodle at all, 
but just an ugly little street dog without 
beauty of any kind. 

After helping to eat Theophile’s bread and 
butter and soup for some weeks, Cagnotte had 
grown fatter, and his outside skin had be¬ 
come too tight for him. He had been nearly 
suffocated. Once freed from it, he shook his 
ears for joy and danced a waltz of his own, 
round the room not caring a straw how ugly 
he might be as long as he was comfortable. 

A very few weeks spent in the company of 


68 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


Cagnotte made the memory of Tarbes and the 
mountains grow dim in the mind of Theophile. 
He learned good French, forgot the way the 
country people talked and soon he had be¬ 
come, thanks to Cagnotte, such a thorough lit¬ 
tle Parisian that he was never again lonely 
or sad. 


IN THE FAMILY 











THE KITTEN WHO HAD NO NAME 


A long time ago, in the land of Japan, 
there lived a Cat family which had a very fine 
little kitten. It is said that this kitten had 
softer fur and longer whiskers and more 
beautiful orange and yellow markings than 
any other child of a Cat in the land, and it was 
a question with its Cat father and its Cat 
mother what to name it. 

They felt that it should have connections 
outside of the family. They wished their kit¬ 
ten to be called by some high-sounding name 
that would give it rank and position in society, 
so it was decided to name the little one Tiger. 

“The tiger is the greatest of all animals,” 
said the mother Cat. “He is the lord of the 
forest. And now that he has a little name¬ 
sake let us go to the tiger and tell him about 
it.” 

So, taking turns carrying their kitten in 
their mouths, the father and mother Cat went 
to the forest where they knew a great tiger 

71 


72 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


with long whiskers and orange and yellow 
markings like those of their little one would 
be found lashing his tail with pride among 
the bamboo trees. But, alas, when these three 
came to the tiger they found him lying inside 
his lair, only peering out into the forest, for 
he feared the dragon. And when they told 
the tiger how they had named their kitten for 
him, the greatest creature in the world, he 
shook his great head sadly. 

“You have made a mistake,” growled the 
tiger. “I am not the greatest creature in the 
world, for the dragon is much more powerful 
than I. With his fiery breath he is able to de¬ 
stroy me. Seek farther for a name for your 
son.” 

So, taking turns carrying their kitten in 
their mouths, the father and mother Cat 
pushed on further, through the bamboos of the 
forest, until they reached the side of a moun¬ 
tain in which the fiery dragon had his lair. 
And as they looked upon the dragon’s long tail 
and saw his sharp claws they said to them¬ 
selves that their kitten must be related slightly 
to him. When they saw the dragon spouting 
balls of fire at their approach, they were posi¬ 
tive that now they had reached the most 


THE KITTEN WHO HAD NO NAME 


73 


powerful and the greatest creature in all the 
land. 

In this, however, they were mistaken. The 
dragon was hiding, for he feared the mighty 
wind which blew down from the mountain top 
and which was so strong that it could carry 
him up to the clouds where the fire of his 
breath would be quenched. And when the 
Cats told him about his little namesake, the 
dragon made his reply. 

“You have made a mistake,” said the 
dragon. “I am not the greatest creature in 
the world, for the wind can take me up into a 
cloud. Gro farther for a name for your son.” 

So, still carrying their little son, turn and 
turn about, in their mouths, the father and 
mother Cat took their way to the very top of 
the mountain to the cave of the winds, for 
they knew now what to name the little one. 
Their kitten should bear the honored name of 
Wind. 

But when these three reached, after many 
days traveling, the cave of the winds, they 
found it empty. A low murmuring and mut¬ 
tering which grew to a howling reached their 
ears, for the wind was caught behind a stone 
wall. It was unable to cross or make its way 


74 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


through, for the stones that made the wall 
were stronger than the force of the air. 

The father and mother Cat lay down and 
sunned themselves on the stones. “Now we 
have made no mistake, ” they said to each 
other. “Our son is named. He is Wall, the 
strongest one in the world.” 

But a voice came to them from the bottom 
of the wall where they were able to discover a 
very tiny hole. This hole, although it was so 
small, went straight through the wall from 
one side to the other. A wee, small voice 
came to them from the hole, a small squeaking 
voice. It was a mouse who had proved him¬ 
self stronger than the wall itself by boring his 
way through between the stones. 

“Why not name our baby Mouse?” asked 
the mother Cat, “the mouse has proved itself 
more powerful than the wind.” 

But just then the kitten, who up to this 
time had taken no part in the discussion, made 
a spring and almost caught the mouse in his 
sharp little claws. Indeed the mouse barely 
got away by leaving a bit of his long, gray tail 
in the kitten’s claws. 

Then the father Cat spoke proudly. “No, 
we have made several mistakes,” he told the 


THE KITTEN WHO HAD NO NAME 


75 


mother Cat, “but now we have been shown 
what to name our son. He is the child of our 
family. He is a Cat, and there is no name 
prouder for a son to bear than that of his 
father and mother if he bears it with honor as 
this little one does.” 

So the kitten was named Cat, and all kittens 
have grown into Cats ever since then to show 
their family feeling and do honor to their 
ancestors. 


DANDY DINMONT’S TERRIERS 


The first object wbicb met Wasp’s eye in 
the kitchen of the inn was a tall, stout country 
looking man in a large jockey great-coat, dis¬ 
cussing huge slices of cold boiled beef. The 
good woman of the place was employed in 
baking. The fire, as is usual in that part of 
Cumberland, was on a stone hearth, in the 
midst of an immensely broad chimney which 
had two seats extended beneath the vent. 

Wasp’s master, with whom he was walking 
through the countryside, asked for some food, 
and the landlady placed a wooden trencher 
and knife and fork before him, pointing to 
the round of beef. At last when the traveler 
had cut some for himself and had fed Wasp, 
the Scotch store-farmer, for such was this Mr. 
Dandy Dinmont, spoke. 

“A bonny terrier that, sir, and a good 
hunter, that is if he has been trained to it?” 

“Really, sir,” said Wasp’s master, “his 
education has been sadly neglected, and his 

76 


DANDY DINMONT’S TERRIERS 


77 


chief property is being a pleasant com¬ 
panion. 1 ” 

“That’s a pity, sir,” said Mr. Dinmont. 
“Beast or body, schooling should aye be 
minded. I have six terriers at home, forbye 
two couples of hounds and some other dogs. 
There’s auld Pepper and auld Mustard and 
young Pepper and young Mustard, and little 
Pepper and little Mustard. I had them 
trained first with rats, then with stoats and 
weasels, and then with foxes, and now they 
fear nothing that ever came with a hairy skin 
on it!” 

His master asked just the question that lit¬ 
tle Wasp had in his mind. 

“I have no doubt, sir, they are thorough¬ 
bred, but, to have so many dogs you seem to 
have slight variety of names for them"?” 

“That’s my own fancy, sir,” said Dandy 
Dinmont, “for calling a fine family of terriers. 
The Duke himself has sent as far as Charlie’s- 
hope, our place, to get but one of Dandy Din¬ 
mont’s Pepper and Mustard puppies. What 
say you, man, since you are but traveling about 
this part of the country, to going home with 
me and see the dogs?” 

Wasp and his master, being foot travelers. 


78 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


and Dandy Dinmont having his horse, could 
not keep up with the farmer when he took his 
departure from the inn, but the hint of hospi¬ 
tality was not lost on them. The traveler paid 
his bill the next morning, put an extra shilling 
in the good hostess’ hand and, bidding her 
farewell, dog and master took the route to 
Charlie ’s-hope which Mr. Dinmont had gone 
before, being guided by the fresh footprints 
of his horse. 

It was a hard road with the land all heath 
and morass. The huts were poor and mean, 
and at a great distance from each other. 
They had to pick their way along a path that 
sometimes sunk between black banks of moss 
earth, sometimes crossed ravines filled with 
mud and water, and even was piled at points 
with heaps of gravel and stone swept down by 
some water spout from the neighboring hills. 

Wasp wondered how the horse had been able 
to take such a trail when suddenly he espied 
something out of the ordinary. The little ter¬ 
rier sprang forward barking furiously. 

His master followed. In a hollow below 
him, a man he saw was Dandy Dinmont was 
engaged with two others in a desperate strug¬ 
gle. Robbers they were, one ruffian armed 


DANDY DINMONT’S TERRIERS 


79 


with a cutlass, the other with a bludgeon, and 
as the dog and his master came up they had 
Mr. Dinmont down in the narrow pass and 
were beating him on his head. But Wasp’s 
barks and the traveler’s shout of courage so 
heartened the farmer that in that moment he 
was up again, and battling with his foes, and 
little Wasp took part in the fray. Snapping 
and barking at the heels of the robbers, he 
took them by surprise. They fled across the 
bog as fast as their feet would carry them, 
pursued by Wasp, who had acted gloriously 
during the skirmish, annoying the enemy at 
just the time when a moment’s diversion was 
in his master’s favor in defending their 
friend. 

“Your dog’s well trained with thieves al¬ 
ready, sir,” were the first words Dandy Din¬ 
mont said when he came up and recognized 
his deliverer and his little attendant. “I’m 
not so badly hurt but I can ride. You must 
get on behind me, for we must be off like the 
wind before a whole band of the villains are 
after us!” 

Indeed they saw five or six men even then 
coming toward them across the moor, so the 
two men rode the farmer’s spirited little nag, 


80 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


and Wasp ran along beside at a fine pace in 
spite of the broken road. They crossed rocky 
defiles, forded streams, passed the ruined 
tower where the robbers were living, and 
finally, by way of a ford over a little river, 
came to the fields and low thatched houses that 
were the farmstead of Charlie ’s-hope. 

A most furious barking was set up at their 
approach by the whole three generations of 
Mustard and Pepper, who came to meet them. 
Dandy Dinmont had to take little Wasp in his 
arms, for the other dogs were not as hospitable 
as he and were of a mind to use Wasp roughly. 
Dumple, the brave nag who had brought them 
safely home, was turned loose, walked of his 
own accord to the stable door, and there pawed 
and whinnied to be let in. And the three 
friends went in to Mistress Dinmont and a 
meal of cold beef, ham, eggs, butter, cake and 
barley-meal bannocks. 

It was a fine welcome for the little terrier, 
who had been so long on the road, faithfully 
following at his master’s heels. That night 
Mistress Dinmont showed them to a very small 
bedroom but with such a bed as they had not 
seen in many a day. “The sheets” she told 
his master, “were washed with the fairy-well 


DANDY DINMONT’S TERRIERS 


81 


water and bleached on the bonny white gow- 
ans.” Indeed they were as white as snow and 
had, besides, a sweet fragrance from the man¬ 
ner in which they had been bleached. 

Little Wasp, after licking his master’s hand 
to ask leave, couched himself on the coverlet 
at his feet and they were both soon fast asleep. 

They arose early in the morning. They saw 
a noble cow-house, well filled with good milk- 
cows, a feeding-house, a stable with two good 
teams of horses in addition to Dumple, and 
Dandy Dinmont himself waiting for them in 
a gray shepherd’s cloak and a cap faced with 
wild-cat’s fur. 

“We’re off for a fox hunt this morning. 
Will you go?” he asked them. “You shall 
ride Dumple and I’ll take the mare myself.” 

They had thought to be off again this morn¬ 
ing, but the farmer would not hear of it. 
While he had been away a fox had been thiev¬ 
ing in his chicken yard, and Mustard and 
Pepper’s family must be after it. Out they 
went accordingly right after breakfast for 
Otterscope Scaurs, the farmer leading the way. 

They soon quitted the farm valley and rode 
among hills so steep as to make Wasp winded 
as he ran up them with the horses. They 


82 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


found their way by small sheep-tracks along 
these steeps, over which Dandy Dinmont rode 
without the least fear, until they came to a 
glen on the mountain side of great depth but 
narrow. This was where the hunt was to take 
place, for it was well known that Keynard, 
the villain, had many holes in that region. 

Along the edges of this ravine the hunters 
on horse or foot, who had gone on ahead, were 
ranged. Almost every farmer had with him 
a brace of fine greyhounds, of the race of 
those deer-dogs which were formerly used in 
that country. But the aristocrats of the hunt 
were Dandy Dinmont’s terriers, all the fami¬ 
lies and relatives both young and old of Mus¬ 
tard and Pepper, who had been sent forward 
from Charlie ? s-hope before Wasp was awake 
in company of a shepherd. Mongrel, whelp 
and cur of low degree filled up a barking 
chorus of lesser degree and all were held ready 
on leash to slip loose at the fox as soon as one 
should be driven out of cover. 

The dogs, impatient of their ropes and mad¬ 
dened with the baying of the hounds farther 
down the sides of the glen, leaped and strained. 
The shepherds could be seen springing with 
fearless jumps from one dangerous point to 


DANDY DINMONT'S TERRIERS 83 

another. The mists were not yet gone so that 
Wasp saw the strange scene as if he were look¬ 
ing through a curtain, hut he felt the instinct 
of the chase, as his ancestors had felt it, tak¬ 
ing hold of him. 

When the fox, driven from one of his strong¬ 
holds to another, and at last obliged to give up 
the valley where he had held fort for a long 
time, was caught, little Wasp had been run¬ 
ning with the Mustards and Peppers, and they 
knew him for one of their generation of 
hunters of thieves. 

Four foxes were taken on that hunt with 
Dandy Dinmont’s terriers. Wasp ran home 
with old Mustard and Pepper, the dogs nos¬ 
ing him and showing that they recognized 
his family and his courage. Indeed Wasp 
thought he had been fox hunting all his short 
life instead of but once. His fight with the 
robbers had brought out his mettle. He tried 
to tell the terriers about it, and no doubt 
he succeeded, for when they returned to 
Charlie ? s-hope, Wasp stayed outside and had 
his supper with Mustard and Pepper, some 
rare boiled salmon and large, juicy bones. 

An otter hunt the next day, and a badger 
baiting the day after! Wasp ran with the 


84 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


shepherd and the pack for these. Young 
Pepper lost a fore-foot and Mustard, the 
Second, was badly throttled by the badger, but 
they did not mind. There was a whole week 
of this sport with fine suppers afterward and 
great fires to lie beside and toast their noses. 
At last, Wasp’s master had to say farewell to 
his jolly host and take to the road again. 

But he left his trusty little dog, Wasp, to 
be a guest at Charlie’s-hope for a season, the 
guest of Mustard and Pepper. He was to be 
trained in hunting, but mainly to have the 
farm terriers for his friends. His master 
would return for him, and Wasp was a happy 
dog. 

“A bit of our supper, a bit of our bread!” 
That was the way of Dandy Dinmont with 
dogs, and they repaid his care with their 
faithfulness. 


THE FOX OUTWITTED 


Once upon a time there was a little chicken 
who lived in Tuscany and wished a chance to 
scratch for herself out in the wide world. She 
told this wish to her father, the cock of the 
hen-yard. “Respected Cock, my father ,” 1 
peeped this chicken, “I wish to go to Leghorn 
and try to make a living there among the town 
fowls.” 

The cock was much put out by the wish of 
his foolish chick. “A hen must be born in 
Leghorn to be of the aristocracy and, beside 
that, you would have to pass the house of a 
wicked old fox on the high road,” he said. 
“The fox would make but one mouthful of 
you.” 

“But it may be,” said the chick, “that the 
old fox will not see me, since I am so small. 
Respected Cock, my father, I must go out into 
the wide world. I shall never be happy until 
I have scratched for worms in some hen-yard 
of Leghorn.” 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


There seemed to be nothing to do then, but 
to allow the foolish chick to start out, which 
the cock did with tears streaming down his 
bill at the thought of the dangers of the road. 
But the ambitious little chick went by way of 
the side of the road, creeping underneath 
bushes and hiding behind stones when she 
approached the house of the fox. She was 
quite sure that she was going to pass her an¬ 
cient enemy in safety, when there was the old 
red fox right in front of her, barring the road. 
Now would come the end of that little chick! 

The fox licked his lips and showed his teeth 
in a wicked smile. But the little chick, who 
was brave although she was so small, stood up 
before the fox and bargained. “How many 
bites of me, Sir Fox?” asked the chick. 

“No more than one, if I measure you right,” 
said the fox, who knew he could afford to bide 
his time. “Suppose, now, Sir Fox,” said the 
chick, “that you give me time to make myself 
into a large chicken pie for you!” 

“How would you go about that?” asked the 
fox, incredulous. 

“If you were to allow me to go on my way 
to the town of Leghorn,” said the chick, “the 
good air there and the rich scratching, to say 


THE FOX OUTWITTED 


87 


nothing of the grand company one has, would 
soon make me into a fine hen. Then I should 
lay eggs and the eggs would hatch into chick¬ 
ens. When you wish it I will come this way 
again with enough chickens to make you the 
largest pie in the world.’’ 

This plan suited the fox, for he was up and 
down the road to Leghorn continually and he 
knew that the chick could not escape him. 

So the little chick went on to the town of 
Leghorn, famed the world over for its fowls, 
and the good air, and the fine scratching in the 
company of the Leghorn chicks and hens made 
her into a fat hen in a very short time. This 
hen laid eggs and hatched chickens and tended 
the chicks well until she had a hundred chil¬ 
dren. There was scarcely a hen in Leghorn 
who had made such a good family showing. 
The hen suddenly felt a longing for home. 
She would like to make the trip from Leghorn 
to her home village of Antignano to show the 
children to their grandfather, the cock. And 
then she remembered her promise. 

On the way she must sacrifice her chicks to 
the old red fox! 

But this hen did not abandon herself to sor¬ 
row. No, she put her wits to work. She laid 


88 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


a plan and then she called her hundred chicks 
together and unfolded the plan to them, telling 
them that if they did not do their part they 
were likely to be only so many bites in a 
chicken pie. Then they all started out, the 
mother hen at the head of the line and all her 
little chicks following. Bach walked boldly, 
carrying in its mouth a long grain of wheat. 

The fox was watching for them. He looked 
out of the window of his house and he sang a 
song of flattery to deceive the hen into coming 
close so that he could pop the chickens right 
into a pie. 

‘‘Little hen, little hen, 

With the crimson cap, 

With the buttered head, 

With the forehead of curdled milk! 

Show yourself at my window! 

I will give you some gruel 
In a red spoon. ’ ’ 

Well, this valiant hen marched with her 
hundred children right up to the window 
where the fox looked out. He was so sur¬ 
prised that about all he could see was the wav¬ 
ing line of the stalks of wheat, rich and 


THE FOX OUTWITTED 


89 


bearded in the ear. “What is this?” the fox 
asked. 

“We carry foxes* tails, Sir Fox,” said the 
hen. ‘ ‘ I and each of my hundred children has 
met in mortal battle, and killed, a fox!” 

“Dear me!” said the fox in great terror, 
“go on, I pray you. I have no appetite to 
speak of today.” And then he barred his 
window and latched his door. 

So the hen took her hundred children to pay 
a visit to their grandfather, the cock of An- 
tignano, and the fox was, for once at least, 
outwitted. 




OF AMUSING CATS 


THE POCKET CAT 


As Janet went out of Miss Abigail’s gate 
and started down the street toward home, she 
saw that Mouser, Miss Abigail’s large grey 
cat, was following her. This was odd, for 
Mouser never went outside of Miss Abigail’s 
garden and never, never noticed children. 
And here he was, keeping just as close to 
Janet’s heels as he could, his feathery tail 
waving in a friendly way and purring loudly. 
It might almost be said that Mouser was 
smiling. 

“I ought to scat Mouser back home,” Janet 
said to herself, “but I should like to let him 
come a little farther with me. I want a cat 
ever so much, and I do wish Aunt Emily would 
let me have one.” 

So Janet kept on, and Mouser kept on too. 

Janet walked very straight in her new dress 
with its flower pocket. Miss Abigail was the 
village dressmaker and she had just finished a 
green print dress for J anet with a large daisy 
93 


94 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


for the pocket. The daisy was cut from linen 
and Miss Abigail had embroidered its yellow 
center with bright linen floss in yellow. She 
had stitched this beautiful daisy pocket to the 
green dress, and then she had embroidered a 
green stem for the daisy that trailed down the 
front of the dress. It was a very attractive 
and unusual pocket, too nice to put one’s hand 
in, but as Janet walked with her arms straight 
down at her side, she planned how she would 
make a daisy chain to wear about her neck 
with the new dress. 

She had so wanted to wear it home that she 
was carrying her old pink gingham dress in a 
bundle under one arm. She was so happy 
about the pocket that she might have forgotten 
all about Mouser if she had not heard a very 
fierce spitting behind her. 

Mouser was spitting at a big black Tommy 
of the village, who was trying to join him 
back of Janet, and who seemed just as eager 
to follow Janet as was Mouser. There were 
the two cats, side by side, purring when they 
were close to Janet, but quarreling if they got 
at all close together. 

“You dear pussies!” Janet said, stopping 
to smooth their ruffled backs. 61 Don’t spit 


THE POCKET CAT 


95 


about me. I don’t understand why you want 
to follow me, for I am not allowed to have a 
cat, and anyway cats don’t usually follow lit¬ 
tle girls right through the street with automo¬ 
biles and grocery carts and everything out. 
Mouser,” Janet tried to speak sternly, “you 
must go home. Miss Abigail will have your 
dinner waiting for you. Scat! ’ ’ 

Mouser paid no heed at all to Janet, except 
to stand up on his back feet and try to get into 
her arms. 

Janet started on again, although several 
boys and girls along the way laughed at the 
strange procession she was heading, for now 
a rather bedraggled white street cat had joined 
the black Tommy. Both of them growled at 
Mouser, but came along with him. And after 
a while they came to Janet’s cousin Mary’s 
house. 

Mary’s long-haired yellow cat with china- 
blue eyes sat on the gate post drying his fur 
after having had a bath with soap. The yel¬ 
low cat was a prince among pussies, eating his 
fish and drinking his cream from flowered 
china dishes, wearing ribbons that matched 
his eyes and never speaking to other cats or 
letting other little girls hold him. But now 


96 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


the long-haired yellow cat did an odd thing. 

His eyes grew green with excitement. He 
leaped down from his gate-post right on 
Janet’s shoulder where he sat and purred 
loudly and dug his sharp claws into her shoul¬ 
der whenever Janet attempted to shake him 
off. 

“You are most clever cats!” Janet said, 
looking at the three behind her, “You seem to 
know how I love cats, but what will Aunt 
Emily say? And I am rather ashamed to 
have that rude black Tommy and the dirty 
white cat with me.” 

Janet was just thinking that there were no 
more cats in town when she and the new dress 
with the daisy pocket reached Aunt Emily’s 
house where she was spending her summer va¬ 
cation. And what did she see but a mother 
Maltese cat sunning her five little Maltese 
kittens on a lawn close to the road. 

Janet decided to go up close to the lawn and 
see if some of her cats would not like to join 
this family group, but this plan did not work. 
The mother Maltese stood up, gave an excited 
look at Janet, picked up the fattest and fluf¬ 
fiest of her kittens in her mouth and deserting 


THE POCKET CAT 


97 


the others joined the cat parade. It was most 
amusing! There they all came with Janet; 
large, dignified Mouser, the spitting Tommy, 
the quarrelsome white one, the yellow prince 
and the hurrying Maltese with a kitten in her 
mouth. 

Amusing, but difficult! Janet ran. The 
cats hurried. It was like a dream, that a lit¬ 
tle girl who had so longed for a cat should 
arrive at her door with six! Aunt Emily, 
greeting Janet, threw up her hands in amaze¬ 
ment at the mixture of cats on her door step. 
Then she sniffed, as all the cats walked into 
the house as if they were at home. Aunt 
Emily had a very sensitive nose. 

“There is catnip somewhere about, Janet,’* 
she said. 

Janet looked puzzled. Then she put her 
hand in the daisy pocket that had seemed too 
nice to use before, and she took out a small 
gray mouse made of flannel and filled with 
dried catnip in the cotton stuffing. The cats 
nearly went mad over it. No wonder they had 
followed Janet, and when Aunt Emily tele¬ 
phoned to Miss Abigail about it, she said that 
she must have made a mistake and put 


98 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


Mouser’s new catnip mouse in the daisy pocket 
instead of in her own. She had thought so 
much about that particular pocket. 

Janet took Mouser home on a string leash 
and the yellow prince in a basket. The two 
village cats divided the mouse between them 
and then hastened off without thanks. The 
Maltese mother suddenly remembered her kit¬ 
tens and went also, and there was that dear 
little fat and fluffy kitten left behind! 

Aunt Emily said Janet might keep it. One 
might almost say that the magic pocket had 
held a cat. 


HOW CATS CAME TO PUKE 


A boy having a pet cat which he wished to 
feed, said to her, “Come, Cat, drink of this 
dish of cream. It will keep your fur as soft 
as silk and make you purr like a coffee-mill.” 

He had no sooner said this to the cat than, 
with a great glare of her green eyes, she 
bristled her tail like a gun-swab and went over 
the back fence head first-pop—as mad as a 
wet hen. 

And this is how she came to do so: 

The story is an old one—very, very old. It 
may be Persian; it may not be. That is of 
very little moment, but here it is. 

Once upon a time in a country that was quite 
as far from anywhere else as the entire dis¬ 
tance thither and back, there was a huge cat 
who ground the coffee in the King’s kitchen, 
and otherwise assisted with the meals. 

He was ninety years old and his whiskers 
were like whisk brooms. But the most singu¬ 
lar thing about him was that in all his life he 

99 


100 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


had never once purred nor humped his back, 
although his master often stroked him. The 
fact was that he had never learned to purr, 
nor had any reason, so far as he knew, for 
humping his back. It remained for him to 
acquire a reason and from his example to de¬ 
vise a habit which cats have followed from that 
time forth, and no doubt will forever follow. 

The King of the country had long been at 
war with one of his neighbors, but one morn¬ 
ing he sent back a messenger to say that he 
had beaten his enemy at last, and that he was 
coming home for an early breakfast as hungry 
as three bears. “Have batter-cakes and cof¬ 
fee/ ’ he directed, “hot, and plenty of ’em!” 

At that the turnspits capered and yelped 
with glee, for batter-cakes and coffee are not 
cooked upon spits, and so they were free to 
sally forth into the city streets and watch the 
King’s home-coming in a grand parade. 

But the cat sat down on his tail in the corner 
and looked cross. 

“Scat!” said he, with an angry cater-waul. 
“It is not fair play that you turnspits should 
go and that I should not.” 

“Oh, yes, it is,” said the gleeful turnspits; 


HOW CATS CAME TO PURR 


101 


“turn and turn about is fair play. You saw 
the rat that was killed in the parlor.” 

With that they pranced out into the court¬ 
yard, turning band-springs, bead-springs, and 
beel-springs as they went and, after giving 
three bearty cbeers in a grand cborus at tbe 
bottom of tbe garden, went capering away for 
tbeir holiday. 

Tbe cat spat at tbeir vanishing heels, sat 
down on bis tail in tbe chimney corner, and 
was very glum indeed. 

Just then tbe cook looked in from tbe 
pantry. “Hullo!” be said gruffly. “Come, 
burry up tbe coffee!” That was tbe way he 
always gave bis orders. 

Tbe cat’s whiskers bristled. He turned to 
tbe coffee-mill with a fierce frown, bis long 
tail going to and fro like that of a tiger in bis 
lair, for this cat, whose name was Sooty Will, 
bad a temper like hot gun-powder. Yet, at 
least when tbe cook was by, be turned tbe 
mill furiously, as if with a right good-will. 

Meantime, out in tbe city, a glorious day 
came on. Banners waved from tbe castled 
heights, and bugles flared from every tower. 
Tbe city gates rang with tbe cbeers of tbe 


102 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


welcoming crowd. Up from cellars, down 
from lofts, off work-benches, and out at the 
doors of their masters ’ shops, dodging the 
cuffs of their masters, pop-popping like corks 
from the necks of so many bottles, came 
apprentices, shop-boys, knaves and scullions, 
crying, 6 ‘ God save the King! Hurrah! Hur¬ 
rah! Masters and work may go to Eome. 
Our tasks shall wait on our own sweet wills. 
’Tis holiday when the King comes home. God 
save the King! Hurrah! ’ ? 

Bugles blew and drums beat until it seemed 
that wild uproar and rich display had reached 
their highest. 

Sooty Will turned the coffee-mill. “My, 
oh! My, oh!” he said. “It certainly is not 
fair that those bench-legged turnspits with 
feet like so many skillets should see the King 
marching home in his glory, while I should 
hear only the sound through the scullery win¬ 
dows. I will not stand it. It is not fair. A 
cat may look at a king, and if any cat may 
look at any king, why, I am the cat who may. 
There are no other cats in the world. I am 
the only one. Pooh! The cook may shout 
until his breath gives out; he cannot frighten 
me. For once I am going to have my fling!” 


HOW CATS CAME TO PURR 


103 


So the cat forthwith swallowed the coffee- 
mill, box, handle, drawer-knobs, coffee-well, 
and all, and was off to see the King. 

So far, so good. But, ah, brightest joys too 
soon must end! 

When the procession was past and gone, 
Sooty Will, with drooping tail, stood by the 
palace gate, dejected. He was cross, silent, 
glum. Indeed, who would not be, with a 
coffee-mill on his conscience? To confess to 
the entire truth, the cat was feeling decidedly 
unwell; when suddenly the cook popped his 
head in at the scullery entry, crying, “How 
now, how now, you vagabond! The war is 
done, but the breakfast is not. Hurry up, 
scurry up, scamper and trot. The cakes are 
all cooked and are piping hot. Then why is 
the coffee so slow?” 

The King was in the dining-hall, in dressing 
gown and slippers, irately calling for his 
breakfast! 

The shamefaced, guilty cat ran hastily down 
the scullery stairs and hid under the refrigera¬ 
tor, with such a deep, inward feeling of re¬ 
morse that he dared not look the angry cook 
in the face. It now seemed to him that every¬ 
thing had gone wrong with the world, es- 


104 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


pecially Ms own inside. TMs will be readily 
understood by anyone who bas swallowed a 
coffee-mill. Sooty Will began to weep 
copiously. 

The cook came into the kitchen. “Where is 
the coffee?” he said; then, catching sight of 
the secluded cat, he stopped, crying, 4 ‘Where 
is the coffee?” 

The cat sobbed loudly. “Some one must 
have come into the kitchen wMle I stepped out 
to look at the King,” he gasped, for there 
seemed to him no way out of it but by telling a 
plausible untruth. “Some one must have 
come into the kitchen and stolen the coffee- 
mill!” and with that, choking upon the handle 
of the mill, which stuck up into Ms throat, he 
burst into loud howls. 

The cook, who was in truth a very kind- 
hearted man, sought to reassure the poor cat. 
“There, it is unfortunate, very; but do’not 
weep. Thieves thrive in kings’ houses!” he 
said, and, stooping, he began to stroke the 
drooping cat’s back to show that he held the 
miserable creature blameless. 

Sooty Will’s heart beat faster. 

“Miaouw, miaouw!” he half gasped. “If 


HOW CATS CAME TO PURR 105 

he rubs his great hand down my back he will 
feel the corners of the coffee-mill through my 
ribs, as sure as fate! Miaouw, I shall be a 
gone cat! ” And with that, in an agony of ap¬ 
prehension lest his guilt and his falsehood be 
thus presently detected, he humped up his 
back as high in the air as he could, so that the 
corners of the mill might not make bumps in 
his sides and so the mill remained hidden. 

But, alas, he forgot that coffee-mills turn. 
As he humped up Ms back to cover his guilt, 
the coffee-mill inside rolled over, and as it 
rolled began to grind -rr-rr-rr-rr-rr-rr-rr! 

“Alas, you have swallowed the mill!” cried 
the cook. 

“No, no,” said Sooty Will. “I was only 
thinking aloud.” 

At that out stepped the Genius that lived 
under the Great Ovens and, with his finger 
pointed at the cat, said in a frightful voice, 
husky with wood-ashes, “Miserable beast! 
By telling a falsehood to cover a wrong, you 
have only made bad matters worse. For be¬ 
traying man’s kindness, a coffee-mill shall 
remain with you until the end of the world. 
Whenever men stroke you in kindness, the 


106 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


memory of your guilt shall make you hump up 
your back, as you did to avoid being found 
out. And in order that this lesson shall never 
be forgotten by your family, whenever man 
is kind to a cat the sound of the grumbling of 
a coffee-mill inside shall perpetually remind 
him of your guilt and shame!” 

With that the Genius vanished in a cloud 
of smoke. 

And it was even as he said. From that day 
Sooty Will could never abide having his back 
stroked without humping it up to conceal the 
mill within him. And never did he hump up 
his back but the coffee-mill began slowly to 
grind, rr-rr-rf-rr-rr! inside him. So that, 
even in the prime of his life, before his declin¬ 
ing days had come, being seized with a great 
remorse for these things which could never be 
amended, he retired to a home for aged and 
respectable cats. There, so far as the records 
reveal, Sooty Will and his coffee-mill lived 
the remainder of his days in charity and re¬ 
pentance. 

But the matter has come down even to the 
present day, as the Genius that lived under 
the Great Ovens said it would. Though cats 
have probably forgotten the facts and so, 


HOW CATS CAME TO PURR 


107 


when stroked, hump their backs and purr as if 
in pleasure, these actions have to do with their 
ancestor Sooty Will, and their purring sounds 
are like the grinding of his coffee-mill. 


DAME WIGGINS OF LEE 


Dame Wiggins of Lee 
Was a worthy old sonl, 

As e’er threaded a needle 
Or washed in a bowl: 

She held rats and mice 
In such antipathy, 

That seven fine cats 
Kept Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

The rats and mice, scared 
By this fierce whiskered crew, 
The seven poor cats 
Soon had nothing to do; 

So, as any one idle, 

She ne’er loved to see, 

She sent them to school, 

Did Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

The Master soon wrote 
That they all of them knew 
How to read the word “milk” 
And to spell the word “mew.” 
And they all washed their faces 
108 


DAME WIGGINS OF LEE 


109 


Before they took tea. 

“Were there ever such dears!” 
Said Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

He had also thought well 
To comply with their wish 
To spend all their play-time 
In learning to fish 
For Stitlings; they sent her 
A present of three, 

Which, fried, were a feast 
For Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

But soon she grew tired 
Of living alone; 

So she sent for the cats 
From school to come home. 
Each rowing a wherry, 
Returning you see; 

The frolic made merry 
Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

The Dame was quite pleased, 
And ran out to market; 

When she came hack 
They were mending the carpet. 
The needle each handled 
As brisk as a bee. 

“Well done, my good cats!” 
Said Dame Wiggins of Lee, 


110 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


To give them a treat, 

She ran out for some rice; 
When she came back 
They were skating on ice. 

“I shall soon see one down, 

Aye, perhaps two or three, 

IT1 wager a crown ! 1 ’ 

Said Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

When spring-time came back 
They had breakfast of curds; 
And were greatly afraid 
Of disturbing the birds. 

“If you sit like good cats, 

All the seven in a tree, 

They will teach you to sing!” 
Said Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

So they sat in a tree, 

And said, c ‘ Beautiful! Hark ! 9 r 
And they listened and looked 
In the clouds for the lark. 

They sang, by the fireside, 
Symphonious-ly, 

A song without words 
To Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

They called the next day 
On a tomtit and sparrow, 


DAME WIGGINS OF LEE 


111 


And wheeled a sick lamb 
Home in a wheelbarrow. 

“Yon shall all have some sprats 
For yonr human-ity, 

My seven good cats,” 

Said Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

While she ran to the field, 

To look for its dam, 

They were warming the bed 
For the poor sick lamb: 

They turned up the clothes 
All as neat as could be; 

“I shall ne’er want a nurse,” 
Said Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

She wished them good-night, 

And went up to bed; 

When, lo! in the morning, 

The cats had all fled. 

But soon—what a fuss! 

“Where can they all be? 

Here, pussy, puss, puss!” 

Cried Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

The Dame’s heart was nigh broke, 
So she sat down to weep, 

When she saw them come back 
Each riding a sheep; 


112 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


She fondled and patted 
Each purring Tom-my, 

“Ah! welcome, my dears,’’ 
Said Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

The Dame was unable 
Her pleasure to smother; 

To see the sick lamb 
Jump up to its mother. 

In spite of the gout, 

And a pain in her knee, 

She went dancing about; 

Did Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

The farmer soon heard 
Where his sheep went astray, 
And arrived at Dame’s door 
With his faithful dog Tray. 

He knocked with his crook, 
And the stranger to see, 
Through the window did look 
Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

For their kindness he had them 
All drawn by his team; 

And gave them some field-mice, 
And raspberry-cream. 

You shall presently see; 

Said he, “All my stock 


DAME WIGGINS OF LEE 


113 


For I honor the cats 
Of Dame Wiggins of Lee.” 

He sent his maid out 

For some muffins and crumpets; 

And when turned round 

They were blowing of trumpets. 

Said he, “I suppose 

She’s as deaf as can be, 

Or this ne’er could be borne 
By Dame Wiggins of Lee.” 

To show them his poultry, 

He turned them all loose, 

When each nimbly leaped 
On the back of a Goose, 

Which frightened them so 
That they ran to the sea, 

And half-drowned the poor cats 
Of Dame Wiggins of Lee. 

For the care of his lamb, 

And their comical pranks, 

He gave them a ham 
And abundance of thanks. 

“I wish you good-day, 

My fine fellows, ’ ’ said he; 

My compliments, pray, 

To Dame Wiggins of Lee.” 


114 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


You see them arrived 
At their Dame’s welcome door 
They show her their presents 
And all their good store. 
“Now come in to supper, 

And sit down with me; 

All welcome once more,” 

Cried Dame Wiggins of Lee. 


WHY 












WHY THERE ARE TAILLESS CATS 


Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was 
a flood of waters sent to the earth, and Father 
Noah built himself an ark to shelter all the 
flying and the slow moving and the creeping 
creatures of the earth. Deep and wide and 
high did Father Noah build the ark and then 
he looked out of the door and he called to all 
the creatures to come in, two by two, for shel¬ 
ter with him. 

In those days there lived a cat who was a 
great and famed mouser. She was the first 
mouser and she lived on the Isle of Man from 
which she was busy ridding the earth of rats 
and mice. This cat had good ears. Yes, she 
had excellent hearing, but when Father Noah 
called from the door of the ark for all the 
creatures to come in to him for shelter from 
the waters, this cat looked up at the sky and 
saw that it was still blue. 

“There will be plenty of time for me to 
catch another mouse before I start for the 

117 


118 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


ark, ’ ’ this cat thought to herself and with that 
she set out hunting and did not obey the call 
of Father Noah. 

But the cat could find no mouse, although 
she hunted for a day and a night, and the 
longer she searched the more did she desire 
that mouse. She would not allow herself to 
look at the procession of the animals, two by 
two, taking their way across the plains and the 
hills to the ark. And as she hunted, a raven 
flew by. 

“You will be too late! You will be too 
late!” croaked the raven, “all of us who fly 
above the earth have been summoned to sail 
with Father Noah in his ark.” 

“Well, what is that to me!” growled the 
cat, and she paid no heed to the warning of the 
raven. 

But the cat was still unable to find a mouse, 
although she hunted another day from sun¬ 
rise to sunset, and all that day the procession 
of the animals passed her, two by two, taking 
their way across the mountains and the 
streams on their way to the ark. And as she 
hunted, the ox stopped for a moment. 

“You will be too late! You will be too 
late!” the ox said to the cat in his deep and 


WHY THERE ARE TAILLESS CATS 119 

rumbling voice. “All of us slow treading 
beasts of the earth are summoned to sail with 
Father Noah in his ark.” 

“Well,” spit the cat, “where are your eyes, 
dull ox? Am I slow moving? There is yet 
time for me to reach the ark before you,” and 
she continued her hunting. 

But still the cat was unable to find a mouse. 
She looked in all the corners and underneath 
the grain piles and wherever there were holes, 
but not so much as the tip of a moused tail 
could she spy. And the longer she hunted the 
surer was she that it was more important to 
catch a mouse than to obey Father Noah. 
And all day and all night the procession of 
the animals went by, two by two, taking their 
way across the islands and the mainland, all 
of them hurrying on their way to the ark. 
But in the procession was a friendly ant who 
stopped. 

“You will be too late! You will be too 
late!” said the ant in a tiny, tiny voice to the 
cat. “All of us who creep upon the earth 
have been summoned to sail with Father Noah 
in the Ark. Come, cat, and join us!” 

“I could crush you with my paw!” said the 
cat in a surly voice to the ant. “I am not a 


120 


itt THE ANIMAL WORLD 


creeping creature. I am almost as swift a 
runner as the deer—But that was all the 
Cat said, for she suddenly felt a drop of rain 
fall plump on the tip of her pretty pink nose. 

She was astonished, for she had never had 
her nose wet before, and she was also fright¬ 
ened, for she did not like the feeling of water 
and it began to rain hard. The sky was 
darkened, the drops of rain changed to a 
shower and the shower changed to a torrent. 
The Cat ran; oh, how she ran! But she was 
not able to catch up with the end of the pro¬ 
cession of the animals, two by two, on their 
way to the shelter of the ark, because they had 
all started at the first call of Father Noah. 

On through the dark and the rain ran the 
cat, over plains and hills, climbing mountains 
and running through valleys. And at last she 
came to the edge of things, for this was the 
cat who lived on the Isle of Man. She must 
swim if she were to reach the mainland and 
the ark, and she had never been a swimmer. 
But the cat plunged into the water and swam 
toward the ark, whose light she could make 
out through the darkness, for cats, you know, 
are able to see in the dark. It is said that 
this is one of the reasons why all cats, ever 


WHY THERE ARE TAILLESS CATS 121 

since, have disliked the water, because there 
was a cat on the Isle of Man who had to swim 
to the ark. 

However that may be, the cat reached the 
the land and ran, dripping and crying and 
very much ashamed of herself, up to the door 
of the ark which Father Noah was just clos¬ 
ing, for he thought that all the animals were 
safely inside. The waters were rising fast so 
he called, “Come, pussy! Hurry, Pussy!” 

She entered the ark, and Father Noah 
slammed the door just in time, but, alas, he 
shut in her tail and it came off. Yes, this cat 
was obliged to leave her tail outside the ark. 
And lucky she was to get in even in that con¬ 
dition. She realized that. But ever since 
then the Manx cats, the cats who live on the 
Isle of Man, have no tails. And it is said that 
this is because the first cat delayed in reaching 
the ark when she should have. 


WHY THE CAT CATCHES MICE 


Once upon a time, long ago, when there 
were castles and deep forests and packs of 
hounds that lived in the castles and hunted 
with their masters in the forests, there was a 
law about these dogs. The law was this, that 
whatever fell from the long table where the 
knights and hunters dined in the castle hall 
should belong to the dogs. They sat waiting 
patiently while their masters partook of 
roasted fowls and game pies and savory joints, 
so it was but just that the scraps from the 
feasting should be theirs. That was the 
decree. 

But when the dogs met in council an old 
hound, who was wise and had been trained for 
the law when he was young, suggested that 
the matter really ought to be put in writing 
upon parchment. 

“We can trust our present masters,’’ said 
this hound, “but how do we know that the 
little boys now growing up in the castle will 
122 


WHY THE CAT CATCHES MICE 123 

treat our puppies as well as their fathers treat 
US'? No, I say we are not at all sure of this 
unless we put it in the form of a document.’’ 
The old hound nodded his head sagely as did 
all the other dogs who sat around him at the 
meeting. It was decided that he was right. 

Seated in one corner of the dogs’ council 
chamber was a cat named Tom, who was the 
secretary. He had served the dogs well in 
this office for some time, he never spilled the 
ink and he had a quill pen always behind one 
ear ready to write a letter for any dog with 
his clever paw. So Tom was asked to bring a 
long piece of parchment, and on it, in the pres¬ 
ence of the dogs’ council, the law was set 
down, that all the meat which fell from their 
masters’ tables, for all time and until their 
puppies’ puppies were great grandfathers, 
should belong to the dogs who waited patiently 
beside their masters’ chairs. 

The parchment was neatly rolled up by Tom 
and he decided that he ought to find the safest 
place in the world in which to hide it. He 
sealed it, tucked it under one paw and started 
up to the attic of the castle where he lived. 

The attic was far away from everything, 
higher than the tower and the battlements 


124 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


even. And Tom had never met anyone there 
except some long-legged spiders who ran off 
as soon as they heard his footsteps. Tom took 
the parchment law which had been written 
out in such a learned manner, and he crept 
into the farthest and darkest corner of the 
attic where a low beam sloped down to the 
floor. Under this beam Tom hid the docu¬ 
ment and then he left it there secure and safe 
for years, he felt sure. 

For a long time everything went well with 
the dogs in that country. They served their 
masters faithfully, and in return they were 
so well fed that they grew fat and careless. 
The King of the dogs had no need of even con¬ 
sulting the law of the parchment; he never 
would have needed it, if it had not been for 
young Tray, a carefree and vagabond dog who 
had no castle but lived as he liked on the roads 
and in the hedges. 

Tray came up to the Miller’s house one 
Sunday when the Miller’s wife was cooking 
a goose. He smelled its savory stuffing and 
he crept into the kitchen of the mill-house and 
followed the Miller’s good-wife as she bore 
the goose, steaming and bursting with its fat, 
in to thd Miller upon a wooden trencher. 


WHY THE CAT CATCHES MICE 125 

But, alas, the good-wife dropped the goose! 
It was heavy and she did not see the loose 
hoard in the floor on which she stumbled. 
Plop, down went the goose! Gollle, up Tray 
took it in his mouth and off he ran to eat it at 
his pleasure in the woods beyond the mill. 

Here was a difficult situation. The Miller 
went after Tray and caught him, although 
not until he had devoured the goose. He 
rubbed Tray’s paw in the ashes to teach him 
not to steal and Tray went limping to the 
King of the dogs, who was in council at that 
time, to demand that the Miller be prosecuted, 
for he had broken the law of food as it had 
been given to the dogs and set down by them 
on parchment. 

Of course no master had ever intended to 
drop a whole stuffed goose beneath his table 
for his dogs. The dogs in council knew that 
and so did the vagabond, Tray, but the King 
of the dogs thought that it would be well to 
consult the writing. There might have been 
some clause in it which would fit such a case 
as this. 

“Tom,” called the King of the dogs to their 
secretary, “Go as fast as you can and bring 
us the parchment.” 


126 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


So Tom ran on his soft paws up to the attic 
and to the darkest corner under the beam 
where he had hidden the precious roll; he 
went to this attic in which he had met only a 
few long-legged spiders in all the years he had 
been secretary to the dogs. But the parch¬ 
ment was gone. All that remained of it was 
a tiny pile of tiny scraps, and beside it sat a 
small gentleman in a gray velvet waistcoat and 
with a long thin tail curled over his back. 
His bright little eyes twinkled at Tom, for he 
knew what had become of the roll of parch¬ 
ment. He was the little mouse who had eaten 
it. 

Tom’s eyes grew fiery and he showed his 
sharp claws as he pounced toward the little 
mouse, but the mouse was too quick for him 
and ran into its hole in the wall. Disgraced, 
ashamed, Tom went back to the council and 
had his quill pen taken away from him and 
was discharged as secretary to the dogs. The 
matter of the goose never was settled very 
well. Tray was of one opinion and the dogs 
who were gentlemen were of the opposite opin¬ 
ion, but there was just one idea in the mind 
of Tom, the cat. He was going to catch that 
mouse up in the attic. 


i 


WHY THE CAT CATCHES MICE 


127 


Perhaps he did and perhaps he did not. 
The story does not go that far, but this is 
known—that cats have been chasing mice ever 
since. It is said that this was when the de¬ 
sire of a cat for a mouse began, when one 
little gray mouse in the attic of a castle cost 
Tom his position as secretary to the King of 
the dogs. 


WHY THE CAT DISLIKES WET FEET 


Once upon a time, in Story-Telling Land, 
there was a wealthy cat. 

He was such a rich cat that he could have 
fish every morning for breakfast without hav¬ 
ing to worry about his bank account. He had 
a cook-cat, who broiled his fish for him and 
brought it to him on a silver platter covered 
with cream sauce. He had a fur cloak and 
ear-laps and two pairs of overshoes for the 
winter. And he had two pairs of goloshes 
and a little green umbrella for the spring, for 
this wealthy cat had never, never set his paws 
in a mud puddle. 

It was to be expected that he would leave, 
at least, the little tail of his fish every morning 
for his cook-cat’s breakfast. But there came 
a day when this rich cat decided that even the 
little tail of his breakfast fish belonged to him. 
So he ate it. Then he decided that he ought 
to be served two or more fish, tails and all, and 
finally all the fish that swim, tails and all, just 
128 


WHY THE CAT DISLIKES WET FEET 129 

for himself. This was impossible for the 
cook-cat, so the wealthy one put on his two 
pairs of rubber goloshes and took his little 
green umbrella daintily in the curved tip of 
his tail, and started out to get for himself all 
the fish that swim. 

He had never been out alone in the world 
before, and he did not know his way. Before 
long the cat came to a green toad, and the toad 
spoke to him. 

“Will you be so kind as to loan me your 
little green umbrella, sir?” the toad asked the 
cat politely. “I am obliged to remain out 
here in the rain all day long to catch the 
garden grubs, and my new spring suit is get¬ 
ting wrinkled and damp.” 

The wealthy cat looked scornfully at the 
toad, “Not I,” he said, “This is my green 
umbrella and I need it, for I am on my way 
to catch all the fish that swim. Can you direct 
me to them?” 

The toad looked surprised, but he motioned 
in the direction of the cross-roads, so the cat 
went on, holding his little green umbrella care¬ 
fully in the curved tip of his tail, and lifting 
his feet in his two pairs of goloshes high. And 
when he came to the cross-roads, the cat met a 


130 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


clucking hen. The hen was looking in all di¬ 
rections and seemed very much distressed. 
“Will you be so good as to lend me two of 
your goloshes, sir?” asked the hen of the cat 
politely. “I made a mistake this spring and 
sat on ducks’ eggs instead of on my own, and 
the little ducklings I hatched are on their way 
to the mill pond. I am following to look after 
them, for they are very young and inexperi¬ 
enced, but two goloshes would help me to get 
over the ground faster.” 

The wealthy cat looked scornfully at the 
hen. “Not I!” said he. “I always wear two 
pairs of foot covering. You don’t expect me 
to walk on my back feet, do you, when I also 
am in a hurry? I am on my way to find all 
the fish that swim. Can you direct me?” 

The hen seemed disappointed, for her 
feathers were draggled and her feet were 
muddy, but she clucked cheerfully in reply. 
“Follow me, sir,” she advised the cat. “My 
family is not fond of fish, but it is possible that 
I can lead you to them.” 

So the wealthy cat, holding his umbrella 
high in the curved tip of his tail and lifting 
his two pairs of rubber goloshes high, went 
along with the poor, draggled hen. They took 


WHY THE CAT DISLIKES WET FEET 131 

the right-hand road and then crossed a marsh, 
and on the other side of the marsh they met a 
dnck. The duck seemed to be in haste, but 
she stopped and spoke to the cat. 

4 ‘Will you be so good, sir,” asked the duck, 
“as to let me walk beside you, sharing your 
umbrella? I have just had word that there 
is a brood of young ducklings, hatched out by 
mistake by a hen, down at the mill pond with 
no one to teach them to swim. I am on my 
way to them, and I have not stopped to oil my 
feathers. ’ ’ 

The hen told the duck that she was on the 
same errand, that of trying to protect the 
little ducks, but the cat spoke scornfully. 

“Not I,” he said in reply to the duck’s re¬ 
quest. “This is my own, personal umbrella, 
cut just wide enough to keep the rain out of 
my ears and off my whiskers. If I allow you 
to walk under it, here at my side, I may get 
wet. I am on my way to find all the fish that 
swim. Can you direct me to them?” 

The duck and the hen looked at one another. 
Then they winked at each other and the duck 
said. 

‘ £ Follow us, good sir. I know a place where 
hundreds of fish swim; trout, butterfish, 


132 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


flounders, perch, bass, pickerel, eels, and the 
most entrancing little minnows.” The duck 
could scarcely quack fast enough to enumerate 
the fish. So the wealthy cat, his mouth water¬ 
ing for fish, and keeping to one side of the 
road under his little green umbrella and wear¬ 
ing his two pairs of goloshes, followed the 
hen and the duck. 

They went to the end of the road and as 
far as the mill pond. There they found the 
ducklings swimming safely and well all by 
themselves, so the hen and the duck had 
nothing to think of but directing the cat. 

“Here you are, sir,” clucked the hen. 

“Here you will find trout, butterfish, 
flounders, perch, bass, pickerel, eels and the 
most delicious little minnows,” quacked the 
duck. 

“Walk right in and fish,” said they both. 

So the wealthy cat, holding the green um¬ 
brella jauntily in the curved tip of his tail 
walked, in his two pairs of rubber goloshes, 
right into the mill pond and he immediately 
went down to the bottom. 

When he came up, his green umbrella was 
floating down toward the mill rush, and he had 
to kick off his goloshes before he could get to 


WHY THE CAT DISLIKES WET FEET 133 


an overhanging branch and reach the shore. 
The fish were too slippery for his claws, and 
he sat there, wet and shivering and shaking 
his paws, for he had never been wet before. 

He went home a wiser cat, and after that he 
always gave his cook-cat the tiny tail of his 
breakfast fish. And ever since this thing 
happened in Story-Telling Land, cats have 
shaken their paws when they got them even 
the least bit wet. 








OF FAITHFUL DOGS 



THE DANCING DOG 


Zamoke was a little dog, as black as ink, ex¬ 
cept for two yellow patches over his eyes, and 
a stray patch on his chest. He was not in the 
least handsome, and no stranger would ever 
have given him a second thought. But when 
you came to know him, you found Zamore was 
not at all a common dog. No one could pos¬ 
sibly have guessed that such a very quiet and 
reserved dog was at heart as gay and cheer¬ 
ful as the silliest kitten that ever was born, 
but so he was, and this is how his family 
found it out. 

One day he was walking as seriously as 
usual through a broad square in the outskirts 
of Paris, when he was surprised at meeting a 
large gray donkey, with two panniers on his 
back, and in the panniers a troop of dogs, 
some dressed as Swiss shepherdesses, some as 
Turks, and some in full court costume. The 
owner of the animal troupe stopped the don- 

i Reproduced by permission from the “Animal Story Book,” ed¬ 
ited by Andrew Lang. Copyright by Longmans, Green and Co. 

137 


138 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


key close to where Zamore was standing, and 
bade the dogs jump down. Then he cracked 
his whip; the fife and drum struck up a 
merry tune, the dogs steadied themselves on 
their hind legs, and the dance began. 

Zamore looked on as if he had been turned 
into stone. The sight of dogs dressed in 
bright colors, this one with his head covered 
with a feathered hat, and that one wearing a 
turban, all moving about in time to music, and 
making little pirouettes and bows! Were 
they really dogs he was watching, or some new 
kind of men? 

Anyway he had never seen anything so en¬ 
chanting or so beautiful, and if it were true 
that they were only dogs—well, he was a dog 
too! 

With that thought, all that lay hidden in 
Zamore’s soul burst forth, and when the 
dancers filed gracefully before him, he raised 
himself on his hind legs, and in spite of stag¬ 
gering a little, prepared to join the ring, to 
the great amusement of the spectators. 

The dog-owner, however, did not see matters 
in the same light. He raised his whip a 
second time, and brought it down with a crack 


THE DANCING DOG 


139 


on the sides of Zamore, who ran out of the 
ring, and with his tail between his legs and an 
air of deep thought, returned home. 

All that day Zamore was serious and 
gloomy. Nothing would tempt him, hardly 
even his favorite dinner, and it was quite 
plain that he was turning over something in 
his mind. But during the night his two young 
mistresses were awakened by a strange noise 
that seemed to come from an empty room next 
theirs where Zamore usually slept. They 
both lay awake and listened and thought it 
was like a measured stamping, and that the 
mice must be giving a ball. But could little 
mice feet tread so heavily as that? Suppos¬ 
ing a thief had got in ? 

So the braver of the two little girls got up 
and stealing to the door softly opened it and 
looked into the room. And what do you think 
she saw? Why, Zamore, on his hind legs, his 
paws in the air, practising carefully the steps 
that he had been watching that morning! 

This was not, as one might have suspected, 
a mere fancy of the moment, which would be 
forgotten the next day. Zamore was too seri¬ 
ous a dog for that, and by dint of hard study 


140 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


he became in time a beautiful dancer. As 
often as the fife and drum were heard in the 
streets, Zamore rushed out of the house, glided 
softly between the children, and watched with 
absorbed attention the dancing dogs who were 
doing their steps; but remembering the blow 
he had from the whip, he took care not to join 
them. 

He noted their positions, the figures, and the 
way they held their bodies, and in the night he 
copied them, though by day he was as solemn 
as ever. Soon he was not contented with 
merely copying what he saw, he invented for 
himself, and with a stateliness of step few 
dogs could reach. Often his dances were 
watched by his two little mistresses through a 
crack in the door; and so earnest was he, that 
at length, worn out by dancing, he would 
drink up the whole of a large basin of water 
which stood in the corner of the room. 

And when Zamore felt himself the equal of 
the best of the dancing dogs he began to wish 
that, like them, he might have an audience. 

Now in France, the houses are not always 
built in rows as they are in England, but 
sometimes have a square courtyard in front, 
and in the house where Zamore lived, this 


THE DANCING DOG 


141 


court was shut in on one side by an iron rail¬ 
ing, which was wide enough to let dogs of a 
slim figure squeeze through. 

One fine morning there met in this court¬ 
yard fifteen or twenty dogs, friends of Za- 
more, to whom the night before he had sent 
letters of invitation. The object of the party 
was to see Zamore make his debut in danc¬ 
ing, and the courtyard was to be the ball¬ 
room, which Zamore had carefully swept with 
his tail. 

The dance began and the spectators were so 
delighted, that they could not wait for the end 
to applaud, as people ought to do, but uttered 
loud cries of “Ouah, ouah/’ that reminded you 
of the noises you hear at a theatre. All ex¬ 
cept one old water spaniel who was filled with 
envy at Zamore’s dancing, and declared that 
no dignified dog would ever make such an 
exhibition of himself. But all the others 
avowed that Zamore was the king of dancers, 
and that nothing had ever been seen to equal 
for grace and beauty his minuet, jig, and 
waltz. 

Of course, if he had chosen, he might now 
have joined the troupe of dancing dogs, but the 
love of his home proved greater than his love 


142 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


of his art. It was only during his dancing 
moments that Zamore unbent. At all other 
times he was as faithful as ever, and never 
cared to stir from the rug unless he saw his 
master take up his hat and stick. To the last 
he remained unknown, except to his admiring 
family. 


A DOG OF FLANDERS 

A dog of Flanders—yellow of hide, large of 
head and limb, with wolf-like ears that stood 
erect, and legs bowed and feet widened in the 
muscular development wrought in his breed 
by many generations of hard service. Pa- 
trasche came of a race which had toiled hard 
and cruelly from sire to son in Flanders many 
a century—slaves of dogs, dogs of the people, 
beasts of the shaft and the harness who died 
breaking their hearts on the stones of the 
streets. 

His master was a brute. He was a dealer 
in hardware who was accustomed to wander 
over the land north and south, from the blue 
sea to the green mountains. He piled Pa- 
trasche’s cart full with pots and pans and 
flagons and buckets and other wares of crock¬ 
ery, brass and tin, and left the dog to draw 
the load as best he might while he himself 
lounged idly by the side or stopped at the inns 
they passed along the road. 

143 


144 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


One day, after two years of this long and 
deadly agony, Patrasche was going on as usual 
along one of the straight, dusty, unlovely 
roads that lead to Antwerp. It was full mid¬ 
summer and very warm. His cart was heavy, 
and his master sauntered on without noticing 
him otherwise than by a crack of the whip as 
it curved round his quivering loins. He 
stopped often, but he had forbidden Patrasche 
to stop for a minute for a drink from the water 
of the canal. Going along thus, in the full 
sun, on a scorching highway, having eaten 
nothing for twenty-four hours and, which was 
far worse, not having had water for nearly 
twelve, being blind with the dust, sore with 
blows, and lame with the load of earthenware 
and goods of metal, Patrasche, for once, 
staggered and then fell. 

He fell in the middle of the white, dusty 
road, in the full glare of the sun. He was sick 
unto death and motionless. His master 
kicked him and beat him with an oak cudgel, 
but Patrasche was beyond feeling pain. He 
lay without moving in the white powder of the 
summer dust, and his master, deeming life 
gone in the dog, struck the leathern bands of 
the harness, kicked his body heavily aside in 


A DOG OF FLANDERS 


145 


the grass and pushed the cart lazily along the 
road np hill. He had got a fair use and good 
profit out of Patrasche. A dying dog, a dog 
of the cart—why should he waste time looking 
after him when it was the last day before 
~kermess at Louvain and he was in haste to 
reach the fair and get a good place for his 
truck of brass wares ? 

Patrasche lay there, flung in the grass-green 
ditch. It was a busy road that day and hun¬ 
dreds of people, on foot and on mules, in 
wagons or in carts went by, tramping quickly 
and joyously on to Louvain. Some saw him; 
most did not look. All passed on. A dead 
dog more or less, a dog who had toiled cease¬ 
lessly from sunrise to sunset, through sum¬ 
mer and winter, in fair weather and foul—it 
was nothing to anybody on a holiday. 

After a time, though, amongst the holiday¬ 
makers, there came a little old man who was 
bent and lame, and very feeble. He was in no 
guise for feasting; he was very poorly and 
miserably clad, and he dragged his silent way 
through the dust and the pleasure-seekers. 
He looked at Patrasche, paused, wondered, 
turned aside, then kneeled down in the rank 
grass and weeds of the ditch and surveyed 


146 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


the dog with kindly eyes of pity. With him 
was a rosy, fair-haired, dark-eyed child who 
also stopped and stood gazing with sadness 
and affection at the poor, great, qniet beast. 

Thus it was that these two met—the little 
Nello and the big Patrasche. 

The upshot of it was that old Jehan Daas, 
the grandfather of Nello, with great effort, 
drew the dog home to their own little hut a 
stone’s throw off amidst the fields, and there 
tended him with so much care that the sick¬ 
ness, brought on by the heat and thirst and 
weariness, passed away, and Patrasche stag¬ 
gered up again upon his four stout, tawny 
legs. 

For many weeks he had been useless, sick, 
but in all that time he had heard no rough 
word, had felt no harsh touch, but only the 
pitying murmurs of the child’s voice and the 
soothing caress of the old man’s hand. He 
had a corner of the hut, with a heap of dry 
grass for his bed, and they had learned to lis¬ 
ten eagerly for his breathing in the dark night 
to tell them that he lived. And when Pa¬ 
trasche was first well enough to try a loud, 
hollow, broken bark, they laughed aloud and 


A DOG OF FLANDERS 


147 


almost wept for joy that he was better, and 
Nello hung around his rugged neck a chain of 
daisies and kissed him. 

So, then, when Patrasche arose, himself 
again, strong, big, gaunt, powerful, his great 
wistful eyes had a gentle astonishment in them 
that here was so much kindness for him, and 
his heart awakened to a mighty love. He, 
being a dog, was grateful. Patrasche pon¬ 
dered long with grave, tender, musing brown 
eyes, watching the movements of his two 
friends. 

Now Jehan Daas was an old soldier, but he 
could do nothing for their living but limp 
about with a small cart, in which he carried 
daily the milkcans of those happier neigh¬ 
bors who owned cattle away into the town of 
Antwerp. It suited them to send their milk 
by so honest a carrier, and bide at home them¬ 
selves to look after their gardens, their cows, 
their poultry, and their little fields. But it 
was becoming hard work for the old man. He 
was eighty-three, and Antwerp was a good 
league off, or more. 

Patrasche watched the milk-cans come and 
go that one day when he had got well and was 


148 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


lying in the sun with a wreath of daisies round 
his neck. 

The next morning, before the old man had 
touched the cart, Patrasche arose and walked 
to it, and placed himself between the handles, 
and showed as plainly as he could his desire 
and his ability to work in return for the kind¬ 
ness that he had shared. They resisted long, 
for the old man thought it a shame to bind a 
dog for work, but Patrasche would not be 
. gainsaid. Finding they did not harness him, 
he tried to draw the cart onward with his 
teeth. 

At length Jehan Daas gave way, for the 
dog’s desire was so plain. He fashioned his 
cart so that Patrasche could run in it, and 
this he did every morning of his life hence¬ 
forward. 

It seemed heaven for Patrasche. After the 
frightful burdens that his old master had put 
upon him, at the call of the whip at every step, 
it seemed play to step out with this little light 
green cart with its bright brass cans, with 
Hello beside him to stroke and caress him all 
the way. Beside, his work was over by three 
or four of the day, and after that he was free 
to do as he would—to stretch himself, to sleep 


A DOG OF FLANDERS 


149 


in the sun, to romp with the little boy, Nello, 
or to play with other dogs. 

The little Nello was a beautiful child, with 
dark, grave, tender eyes, and a lovely bloom 
upon his face, and fair locks that clustered to 
his throat. And many an artist sketched 
the two as they took their way with the milk— 
the green cart with the brass flagons, and the 
great tawny-colored, massive dog, with his 
belled harness that chimed merrily as he went, 
and the small figure that ran beside him which 
had little white feet in great wooden shoes, 
and a soft, grave, innocent, happy face like 
the little fair children of the master painter 
of Antwerp, Rubens. 

Nello and Patrasche did the work so well 
and joyfully together that Jehan Daas had no 
need to stir out, but could sit in his doorway 
in the sun and see them go forth through the 
garden wicket, and then doze and dream and 
pray a little, and then awake again as the 
clock tolled three and watch for their return. 

And on their return Patrasche would shake 
himself free of his harness with a bay of joy, 
and Nello would tell of all that had happened 
to them on the way, and then they would all 
go in together to their meal of rye bread and 


150 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


milk or soup, and would see the shadows 
lengthen over the great plain, and see the 
twilight veil the fair cathedral spire. 

A dog of Flanders—Patrasehe was very 
happy. 


THE DOG WHO LOST HIS MASTER 


There was once a dog who had a master 
whom he loved very dearly, and this man went 
away from the dog’s house one day when the 
dog was out running with his friends. When 
he came home toward supper time, and hur¬ 
ried up to the room where this man, his mas¬ 
ter, had lain in a wide bed for a long time, 
there was no one there. The dog was sure of 
this, because he stood up beside the bed and 
put his paws on the coverlet and his warm, 
loving tongue on the pillow, but the bed was 
empty. 

The dog’s house was a large, stately one 
with many rooms and a carriage entrance 
with an awning in front, and it stood so far 
back from the village street that it was quite a 
run from the carriage entrance to the street. 
There were many servants, and friends came 
to the house, but of all people the dog loved 
his master the most, and even though he was 
often too busy during the day to stay up in 

151 


152 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


his master’s room, the dog had never failed 
to visit him late in the afternoon. He had 
never allowed his duties about town to in¬ 
terfere with this. 

This dog had come to his master’s house in 
a green town among the hills from a city, and 
he had felt that he should, almost from his 
first day in the town, be neighborly. So every 
morning, before even the cook had come down 
to the kitchen, the dog set out without his 
breakfast to go the rounds of the nearby 
houses with the milkman. There were babies 
in some of these houses and the dog barked 
to let their mothers know that the milk had 
come. 

After he had made the rounds with the 
milkman, the dog hurried home for the break¬ 
fast which the cook always had ready for him, 
and when he had eaten this it was his time for 
going out with the postman. Nearly all the 
houses on his street were set back, as his was, 
far from the street among trees and gardens, 
making a long walk for the postman with each 
delivery of mail. The postman would tie the 
letters and papers together for each house 
and the dog would take this package of mail 
carefully in his mouth and deliver it at the 


THE DOG WHO LOST HIS MASTER 


153 


front door. This kept him busy each morn¬ 
ing until the sun was high when he would 
come home again and see if the cook had his 
dinner ready. After dinner he met some of 
his dog friends and ran with them, or he went 
down town and sat on the hotel steps as he saw 
some of the townsmen do. All this time the 
dog may have seemed a bit unsociable, for he 
never allowed anyone to pat him when he was 
carrying mail, nor did he pay attention to any¬ 
one in the street except members of his family. 

He was a big, shaggy dog, who looked a 
good deal like a muddy sheep, and the smaller 
dogs came to know him as a fighter. He 
seemed to have no thought all day except his 
own dog business, but this was not true. He 
was on what he thought was his master’s busi¬ 
ness and he had his master in his mind all the 
time. 

When he came home and went upstairs to 
visit with his master, the dog almost spoke 
his love. The thumping of his tail was a 
drum beat of joy. If his master so much as 
laid one weak hand on the dog’s head, he was 
all a-tremble with happiness. And when the 
dog found his master’s bed empty he could 
not understand it. 


154 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


He went down and sat in front of the house 
at the carriage entrance waiting for his mas¬ 
ter to come in from a drive, and he waited 
for him there all night. He growled when the 
servants tried to coax him in. When morn¬ 
ing came, the dog went the rounds with the 
milkman and had his breakfast and followed 
the postman as usual. Then, after his dinner, 
he went out and pretended to the other dogs 
that he felt just as usual. He even barked 
and ran when some stranger whistled, making- 
believe that he had heard his master call. 
But this was only a make-shift with the dog. 
He went home in the afternoon and lay awhile 
outside his master’s empty, locked room and 
then he waited all of another night at the 
carriage entrance for his master to return 
from some journey, and he did not return. 

The dog was very valuable. His ancestors 
had been fine Irish terriers and he felt a 
thing more earnestly than some dogs do. He 
felt sure that his master would not have gone 
away without telling him good-bye. Or, if 
he had been called away suddenly, the dog felt 
that his master must return. He expected 
him any day by way of the carriage entrance, 


THE DOG WHO LOST HIS MASTER 155 

so the dog watched there no matter what the 
weather was. 

Each day he carried on his milk and mail 
delivery duties, but he lost his appetite, and 
what little he ate he took out there in front of 
the house. When his master had gone, an ar¬ 
rangement had been made to keep the house 
open and a servant to feed and look after the 
dog as long as he was happy, but the dog grew 
thin. His hair was matted and full of lumps 
of mud. His big brown eyes looked farther 
than human eyes could see as he waited for 
his master, and there came a time when he 
would not touch food and showed his teeth if 
anyone came near him. 

The house next door to the dog’s had never 
interested him very much. It was just as 
large, and it stood just as far back from the 
street among its trees and flowers, but the 
dog’s master did not live there so he never 
visited it. It was just as quiet a house as his, 
or it had been as quiet until one day several 
weeks after his master had gone away, when 
the dog heard a sound from it. 

He lay there, weak and thin, in his drive¬ 
way, expecting his master at any moment but 


156 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


hardly able to wait much longer, when he 
heard this sound—a little child’s voice. He 
looked over. There she was, a little girl who 
was now big enough to play out on the piazza 
in the sunshine, and she was calling the dog. 
“Here, Pat! Good old Pat! Come over and 
see Marjorie.’’ She tried to whistle, although 
her rosebud mouth was much too small. 

The dog stood up on his shaking legs. A 
great thought had come to him. The child 
was, for the moment alone. Suppose a 
strange dog or a tramp were to see that nice 
little girl next door? Strange, how he had 
never realized before how she needed him! 

The dog left his post and went over there, 
next door. He lay down on the piazza, wag¬ 
ging his tail beside the little girl. She patted 
him and her small hand on his head gave him 
something like the same feeling of happiness 
that his master’s hand had. 

Then a strange thing happened to this dog. 
It was not that he forgot his master. Oh, no, 
indeed. But the little girl needed him and so 
he went next door to live. They closed his 
old house and the servants went away, and the 
dog hardly noticed it, so busy was he with 
dolls and balls and keeping watch that his lit- 


THE DOG WHO LOST HIS MASTER 


157 


tie girl did not stray off her lawn. He still 
helps the milkman and the postman. He still 
runs with the other dogs as far as the hills 
sometimes, pretending that a sudden, faraway 
whistle is the call of his master. But he is a 
fat, cheerful, busy dog, a dog who lost his mas¬ 
ter but was able to hear the voice of the little 
girl who lives next door. 

























* 







OF CATS AND DOGS 











































THE QUARREL OF THE CAT AND 
THE DOG 


In the childhood of the world, when Father 
Adam named all the animals and ruled over 
them, the dog and the cat were the greatest 
good friends. They were inseparable chums 
in their recreations, faithful friends in all 
their transactions, and devoted comrades in 
adventures, pleasures and sorrows. They 
lived together, shared each other’s food and 
confided their secrets to none but themselves. 
It seemed that no possible difference would 
ever arise to cause trouble between them. 

But at last winter came. It was a new ex¬ 
perience to them to feel the cold wind cutting 
through their skins and making them shiver. 
The dismal prospect of the leafless trees and 
the hard, cold ground weighed heavily upon 
their hearts and, worse still, there was less 
food. The scarcity grew serious and hunger 
plunged them into unhappiness and despair. 
The dog became melancholy, while puss grew 
161 


162 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


peevish, then petulant, and finally developed 
a horrid temper. 

“We can’t go on like this,” moaned the cat. 
“I think we had better dissolve partnership. 
We can’t find enough to share when we are 
together, but separately we ought to discover 
sufficient forage in our hunting.” 

“I think I can help you, puss,” suggested 
the dog, “because I am the stronger.” 

Puss did not contradict, but she thought 
the dog a bit of a goose and too good-natured. 
She knew herself to be sly and intended to re¬ 
ly on that quality for her future sustenance. 
The dog was deeply hurt at the cat’s desire 
to end their partnership, but he said quietly, 
“Of course, if you insist on parting I will 
agree.” 

“It is agreed then,” purred the cat. 

“Where will you gol” asked the dog. 

“To the house of Father Adam,” promptly 
replied the cat, who had evidently made up 
her mind. “There are mice there. Father 
Adam will be grateful if I clear them away. 
And I shall be given all the food I want. ” 

“Very well,” assented the dog, “Then I 
shall wander further afield.” 


THE QUARREL OF THE CAT AND DOG 163 

But just at this moment the cat had an idea. 
She spoke solemnly. 

“We must each take an oath,” she told the 
dog, 4 ‘never to cross the other’s path. That 
is the proper way to terminate a business 
agreement. The serpent who lives in Father 
Adam’s garden and who is the wisest of all, 
says so.” 

So the dog and the cat put their right fore¬ 
paws together and gravely repeated on oath 
never to interfere with each other by going to 
the same place. The dog then trotted off 
sorrowfully but the cat did not do so. She 
scampered as fast as she could to the warm, 
cozy house of their Father Adam. 

“Dear Father Adam,” she purred. “I 
have come to be your slave. You are troubled 
with mice in the house. I can rid you of 
them, and I want nothing from you for my 
services except a little food.” 

“Thou art welcome,” said Father Adam, 
stroking the cat’s warm fur. 

Puss rubbed her head against his feet, 
purred, sat beside the fire, and when she had 
warmed herself she ran off to look for mice. 
She found plenty and soon grew fat and com- 


164 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


fortable. Adam treated the cat kindly and 
she soon forgot all about her former comrade. 

The poor dog did not fare very well. In¬ 
deed, he had a rough time. He wandered 
aimlessly about over the frozen ground and 
was not able to find the slightest scrap of 
food. After three days, weary, paw-sore, and 
dispirited, he came to a wolf’s lair and begged 
for shelter. The wolf took pity on him, gave 
him some scraps of food and permitted him to 
sleep in his lair. The dog was very thankful 
and, sleeping with his ears on the alert, he 
heard stealthy footsteps in the night. He 
told the wolf. 

“Drive the intruders away,” said his host 
in a surly tone. 

The dog went obediently to do so, but out¬ 
side the lair he found a pack of wild beasts 
who fell upon him and nearly killed him. He 
was lucky to escape with his life. After bath¬ 
ing his wounds at a pool in the early morning, 
he wandered all day long, but again he could 
find nothing. Toward night when he could 
scarcely drag his famished and wounded 
body along, he came upon a monkey in a tree. 

“Kind Monkey!” pleaded the dog, “give 


THE QUARREL OF THE CAT AND DOG 165 

me shelter for the night. I am exhausted and 
hungry.’ ’ 

“Go away! Go away! Go away!” chat¬ 
tered the monkey, jumping and swinging 
swiftly from branch to branch, moving his lips 
quickly and opening and shutting his eyes in 
an odd way. The dog waited, hoping that he 
would relent, but the monkey now threw 
cocoanuts down at him. So at last the poor 
dog crawled miserably away. 

“What shall I do?” he moaned. Hearing 
the bleating of some sheep, he made his way 
to them and asked them to take compassion on 
him. 

“We will, if you will watch over us and tell 
when the wolf comes,” the sheep said to the 
dog. 

To this the dog agreed willingly, and after 
he had devoured some food he stretched him¬ 
self to sleep like a faithful watchman, with 
one eye open. In the middle of the night, he 
heard the wolves approaching, and, anxious 
to serve the sheep, he sprang to his feet and 
began to bark loudly. This aroused the 
sheep, who awoke, ran wildly in all directions, 
and lost some of their number by dashing into 


166 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


the pack of wolves where they were killed. 
The dog, although he had tried to do his best, 
was almost broken-hearted at this and he 
made up his mind that he would keep away 
from all creatures after his failure. 

Once again he set out on his travels. 
Whenever he met an animal he ran in the 
opposite direction. He went by lonely paths 
and along unfrequented roads. He grew 
weak and thin and he was always in danger 
from wild beasts. 

At last the dog came in sight of a house. 
He crept up to the door and begged for a little 
food, at the same time warning the man of the 
house that wild beasts were in his neighbor¬ 
hood making a raid. This man jumped up at 
the news, seized his bow and arrows and drove 
off the beasts. Then he called the dog to him, 
patted him and said, “Good dog! You shall 
stay here, and you will find Father Adam 
kind.” 

But the dog was nonplussed at this. 
“Father Adam,” he exclaimed. “I did not 
know that this was your house. I must not 
stay here!” 

“But I insist!” said Father Adam. “I 
have no house-dog, and you are the very one I 


THE QUARREL OF THE CAT AND DOG 167 

want, honest, faithful, and a good watch-dog.’’ 

So the dog was forced to accept Father 
Adam’s invitation. He went into the house, 
and there sat the cat beside Father Adam’s 
fire. She was amazed, then angry to see the 
dog. Then she arched her back, threw out 
sparks of fire from her tail and spit at the 
dog. “Villain!” said the cat, “you have 
broken your oath!” 

Father Adam was a peaceful man and he 
at once came to the help of the dog, when he 
understood how matters stood between him 
and the cat. “He did not mean to break his 
word,” he told the cat. “He is also very use¬ 
ful to me. Let him stay. He won’t hurt you, 
Puss, and there is room for you both.” 

“No, there isn’t!” the cat said spitefully, 
growing more and more ugly and showing her 
sharp claws. “He broke his oath. He is 
wicked. You dare not overlook such an 
offence.” 

The dog sat in the doorway dejectedly, his 
tail between his legs. “I didn’t know I was 
in your house,” he said, “and I am tired and 
half starved, miserable and weary.” 

But the cat showed no mercy. She ad¬ 
vanced and tried to scratch the face of her old 


168 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


friend. She would have succeeded if Father 
Adam had not interfered. 

The dog remained in the house and did his 
best to be faithful and to make friends with 
the cat, but she would do nothing but quarrel. 
She stole his food, occupied the best place by 
the fire and told tales about him to Father 
Adam. At last the dog could stand it no 
longer. He found a good situation in the 
house of Seth and told Father Adam that he 
must leave. 

“Won’t you make friends with Puss?” 
asked Father Adam. 

4 ‘With pleasure,” said the dog, “but she 
won’t.” 

“You blame each other. I can’t make you 
out.” said Father Adam at last, losing his 
patience. “It looks as if you would go on 
quarreling forever.” 

And his words proved true. Ever since 
that time the cat and dog seldom agree, and 
Puss is the one who makes the most objection 
to being friendly. 


THE CAT THAT COULD NOT BE 
KILLED 


Once upon a time there lived a dog and a 
cat who were always fighting. The cat could 
say what she pleased to the dog, for what¬ 
ever he did to her it did not hurt her. The 
dog used to worry the cat and beat her as hard 
as he could, but she only danced about and 
laughed at him, and called out, 

“You can’t hurt me! You can’t hurt me! 
I had a little pain, but it is all gone.” 

At last the dog went to a wise starling and 
said to him, “What shall I do to punish the 
cat? I bite her and it doesn’t hurt her. I 
beat her and she only laughs. Though I am 
a big dog, she is also a big cat, and when she 
bites me and beats me it hurts me dreadfully.” 

“Bite her mouth as hard as you can,” said 
the starling, “that will hurt her.” 

So the dog bit her mouth as hard as as he 
could, but the cat only danced about, and 
laughed at him, and called, 

169 


170 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“You can’t hurt me! You can’t hurt me! 
I had a little pain but it is all gone now. ’ ’ 

“What am I to do?” said the dog to the 
starling, for he went at once and told him 
what had happened. 

“Bite her ears and make holes in them!” 
said the starling. “That will be sure to hurt 
her.” 

•So the dog bit the cat’s ears and made holes 
in them, but the cat only laughed and danced 
about, and cried out, 

“You have not hurt me. Now I can wear 
rings in my ears as I have always longed to!” 

And the cat put fine rings in her ears, and 
tossed her head at the dog, and was prouder 
than ever. 

So the dog went to a mighty elephant who 
lived not far away, and he said to this ele¬ 
phant, “Help me kill this cat. She vexes me 
night and day, and nothing I do seems to harm 
her in the least.” 

“Very well, I will kill this cat for you,” 
the mighty elephant replied. “I am so huge, 
and she is so small in comparison that a touch 
will do it.” And with that, the elephant ap¬ 
proached the cat, picked her up in his trunk, 
and threw her far off into a field. But the 


THE CAT THAT COULD NOT BE KILLED 171 


cat returned singing and dancing, and she 
called out to the elephant, 

“You can’t hurt me! You can’t hurt me! 
My fur is so soft that I can be thrown farther 
than that without coming to harm.” 

This made the mighty elephant angry. “I 
will teach you a better dance than that,” he 
told her, and he put his foot right on top of 
the cat, hard, so as to flatten her out. He then 
lifted his foot and out came the cat for she was 
used to flattening herself, and she danced 
around on the tips of her paws, laughing and 
calling out, “You didn’t hurt me! You didn’t 
hurt me! But now I will hurt you.’ 1 ’ And 
with that the cat dug her claws into the trunk 
of the mighty elephant and scratched him so 
hard that he ran away. And when the dog 
spoke to him about it, the elephant said that 
there was nothing more that he could do with 
the cat. The dog would have to find someone 
else to attend to her. 

“Nonsense!” thought the dog to himself. 
“I can attend to the cat myself, if I only put 
a little more thought upon the matter.” So 
the dog thought and thought, and then he made 
up his mind that he would -bite a hole in the 
cat’s nice, soft, pink nose. So the dog bit a 


172 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


hole in the cat’s nice, soft, pink nose and in¬ 
stead of mewing with pain, the cat was only 
pleased. She laughed and danced about, and 
called, 

“You can’t hurt me! You can’t hurt me! 
I always longed to be able to wear a ring in 
the end of my nose.” 

So the cat put a splendid gold ring in the 
hole in her nose, and now she wore earrings 
and a nose ring, and she held her head higher 
than ever, and was full of pride, and per¬ 
fectly safe. 

And the dog went to a fierce leopard and he 
said to the leopard, 

“Will you kill this cat for me! She 
troubles me night and day, and nothing I do to 
her has the slightest effect upon her. ” 

“I will bite the tail of the cat in two,” said 
the leopard, but when he approached her, the 
cat said, “That is what I want most of all. I 
want to have my tail cut in half, for it is too 
heavy for me to carry about. But if you will 
follow me to my house, I will cook a fine dinner 
for you, and you may take your time about 
cutting off my tail afterward.” 

So the leopard went with the cat, but she 
suddenly took to her heels and ran so fast that 


THE CAT THAT COULD NOT BE KILLED 173 

the leopard could not catch her, and so she was 
able to keep her fine long tail. She returned 
to the dog, shaking her earrings and her nose 
ring, and holding her head and her tail very 
high with pride, and he decided that she wouM 
have to be killed. So the dog went to the bear, 
and said, 

“Help me kill this cat. She pursues me 
night and day, and nothing I do to her hurts 
her at all.” 

‘ 1 Come here , 9 9 growled the bear , 1 6 and let me 
kill you, cat!” And the bear caught the cat 
beneath his great claws, but she slipped out 
between his toes, and, oh, how she scratched 
his nose with her own sharp little claws! The 
bear ran away into the woods, and the cat 
laughed and danced, calling, 

6 ‘ Nothing can kill me. Nothing can kill me, 
for there is no animal so clever as I am!” 

This was almost true, and it was at that time 
that the cat began to have nine lives, and also 
that most dogs began to be afraid to come too 
close to a cat, not wanting to have their noses 
scratched. 


OLD SULTAN 


There was once a peasant who owned a 
faithful dog called Sultan now grown so old 
that he had lost all his teeth, and could lay 
hold of nothing. One day the man was stand¬ 
ing at the door of his house with his wife, and 
he said, “I shall kill old Sultan tomorrow; he 
is no good any longer.” 

His wife felt sorry for the poor dog, and an¬ 
swered, “He has served us for so many years, 
and has guarded us so faithfully, he deserves 
food and shelter in his old age.” 

“Dear me, you do not seem to understand 
the matter,” said her husband; “he has never 
a tooth, and no thief would mind him in the 
least, so I do not see why he should not be 
made away with. If he has served us well, we 
have given him plenty of good food.” The 
poor dog, who was lying stretched out in the 
sun not far off, heard all they said, and was 
very sad to think that the next day would be 
his last. He bethought him of his good friend, 

174 


OLD SULTAN 


175 


the wolf, and slipped out in the evening to the 
wood to see him, and related to him the fate 
that was awaiting him. 

“Listen to me, old fellow,” said the wolf, 
“be of good courage. I will help you in your 
need. I have thought of a way. Early to¬ 
morrow morning your master is going hay¬ 
making with his wife, and they will take their 
child with them, so that no one will be left at 
home. They will be sure to lay the child in 
the shade behind the hedge while they are at 
work. You must lie by its side, just as if you 
were watching it. Then I will come out of the 
wood and steal away the child and you must 
run after me, as if to save it from me. Then 
I must let it fall, and you must bring it back 
again to its parents, who will think that you 
have saved it, and will be much too grateful to 
do you any harm. On the contrary, you will 
be received into full favor, and they will never 
let you want for anything again.” 

The dog was pleased with the plan, which 
was carried out accordingly. When the 
father saw the wolf running away with his 
child, he cried out, and when old Sultan 
brought it back, he was much pleased with him, 
and patting him, said; 


176 


IK THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“Not a hair of him shall be touched. 
He shall have food and shelter as long as he 
lives. ’ ’ And he said to his wife; “ Go home di¬ 
rectly and make some good stew for old Sultan, 
something that does not need biting. And get 
the pillow from my bed for him to lie upon.” 

From that time old Sultan was made so com¬ 
fortable that he had nothing left for which to 
wish. Before long the wolf paid him a visit, 
to congratulate him that all had gone so well. 

“But, old fellow,” he said, “you will have 
to wink at my making off«by chance with a fat 
sheep of your master’s. Perhaps one will es¬ 
cape some fine day!” 

“Don’t reckon on that,” answered the dog, 

6 ‘ I cannot consent to it. I must remain true to 
my master. ’ ’ 

But the wolf, not supposing it was said in 
earnest, came sneaking in the night to carry 
off the sheep. But the master, who had been 
warned by the faithful Sultan of the wolf’s 
intention, was waiting for him, and gave him 
a fine hiding with the threshing-flail. So the 
wolf had to make his escape—calling out to 
the dog, “You shall pay for this, you traitor!” 

The next morning the wolf sent the wild 


OLD SULTAN 


177 


boar to call out the dog, and to appoint a meet¬ 
ing in the wood to receive satisfaction from 
him. Old Sultan could find no second but a 
cat with three legs; and as they set off to¬ 
gether, the poor thing went limping along, 
holding her tail up in the air. 

The wolf and his second were already on the 
spot. When they saw their antagonists com¬ 
ing, and caught sight of the elevated tail of 
the cat, they thought it was a sabre they were 
bringing with them. And as the poor thing 
came limping on three legs, they supposed it 
was lifting a big stone to throw at them. This 
frightened them very much. The wild boar 
crept among the leaves, and the wolf clam¬ 
bered up into a tree. And when the dog and 
the cat came up, they were surprised not to 
see any one there. However, the wild boar 
was not perfectly hidden in the leaves, and 
the tips of his ears peeped out. And when 
the cat caught sight of one, she thought it was 
a mouse, and sprang upon it, seizing it with 
her teeth. Out leaped the wild boar with a 
dreadful cry and ran shouting away, calling 
as he went, 

“ There is the culprit up in the tree!” 


178 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


And the dog and the cat looking up caught 
sight of the wolf, who came down, quite 
ashamed of his timidity, and made peace with 
the dog once more. 


ON THE FARM 




ft 







I 
















THE FIERY STEED OF TASSEL TOP 
FARM 


Next to the minister’s was a field where the 
iceman kept an old horse out at pasture. Bit 
by bit Ethel, the minister’s little girl, and this 
horse became great friends. It began with 
mutual glances, and then, one day, coached by 
her mother, Ethel pushed some green corn 
husks through the fence. The horse ate these 
as though they were ice cream, meanwhile 
keeping enraptured eyes upon his little friend. 

As you may guess it wasn’t long before he 
came running to the fence every time he saw 
her; and when he bent his head to eat the sugar 
or the bunches of grass that Ethel held out to 
him, she learned to pat his neck and run her 
hand the length of one glossy ear. 

After that Ethel adopted horses as her own 
particular pets, smiling at them whenever they 
looked at her, or shyly patting them as she 
saw them in the street hitched to a curb. She 
only did this, though, when she thought no one 
181 


182 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


was looking, being that kind of child blessed 
by the fairies, who has a dread of showing off. 

Not long after this Ethel began going every 
summer to Uncle (Man’s farm. Uncle Orlan 
had three horses—a team with backs as broad 
as circus horses and a rangy, long-legged horse 
with a wicked eye, named Dan. Everybody 
on the place, Tassel Top Farm, told Ethel to 
look out for Dan. 

“Why?” she asked. 

“He’s tricky,” said Uncle Orlan. “Squeezes 
you up against the side of his stall, tries 
to step on your toe when you’re leading him, 
swishes his tail hard in your face and then 
pretends he never knew you were there. 
He’s full of tricks! He bobs his head when 
you’re putting the bridle on him and tries to 
knock your chin off. He jumps for the stable 
door when you’re putting the harness on him. 
Now you remember and stay away from Mas¬ 
ter Dan, or he’d as soon as not lie right down 
and roll on you.” 

Of course Ethel wanted to have a good look 
at this remarkable horse just as soon as 
possible. She stood still a safe distance from 
his stall, and Master Dan looked back at her 
with a knowing look as though he were say- 


THE FIERY STEED 


183 


ing, “So you’ve been bearing tales about 
me, eh?” 

“Yes, I have,” said Etbel, “and I am sur¬ 
prised at you.” And then sbe fed bim a 
bandful of fresb clover that sbe bad picked 
especially for bim at tbe side of tbe road. He 
watched ber as be ate tbis, and then be seemed 
to say, 

“Look at me!” The next moment be was 
leaping off in a circle, and throwing bis heels 
up with a curious double motion as though be 
were kicking twice where an ordinary horse 
would be able to kick only once. “There,” be 
seemed to say, “That’s tbe kind of horse I am! 
Now aren’t you afraid of me?” 

Etbel gave bim another handful of clover 
and rubbed bis nose as be ate it. 

“I like you,” sbe said, “You’re a funny 
horse!” 

Ethel used to go down and watch TJncle 
Orlan cultivate the corn; and after riding one 
of tbe fat horses back to tbe stable a time or 
two, be let ber ride all one morning between 
tbe rows, guiding tbe horse to tbe right or 
tbe left when tbe planting was crooked and 
turning bim around at the end of each row. 

“As good a man on a horse as any I know!” 


184 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


said Uncle Orlan to Aunt Flo when he went 
up for his dinner. 6 i Took to it like a regular 
little jockey!” 

So Aunt Flo found Ethel a pair of small 
trousers to wear beneath her gingham dress, 
and after that she had a regular job when¬ 
ever the corn was being cultivated. 

But one morning, when the fat team had 
gone to the village for a load of grain, Uncle 
Orlan said he’d have to do the cultivating 
alone that day. 

“Why asked Ethel, who had her trousers 
on, ready for work. 

Uncle Orlan told her. “I’m going to work 
Master Dan today.” 

“I can ride him!” 

“No, no, no! No, sir-ree! He’s too 
tricky.” 

“Well, let me try just once.” the little girl 
begged. “Ple-e-ease, Uncle Orlan! And if 
Dan cuts up, I’ll get right off.” 

It took a great deal of coaxing, but Uncle 
Orlan finally gave in, never having raised a 
little girl himself and not knowing how to 
steel himself against one. They walked down 
to the field together, the three of them, Master 
Dan in the middle, and Ethel taking long 


THE FIERY STEED 


185 


strides and patting as high as she could reach. 
At the beginning of the first furrow the horse 
was hitched to the cultivator and then, with 
many wrinkles in his forehead, Uncle Orlan 
lifted Ethel upon Dan’s back. 

“Pw-r-r-r-!” exclaimed Master Dan, feel¬ 
ing ballast. 

“Look out!” cried Uncle Orlan, keeping 
hold of her ready to swing her off, “he’s up to 
his tricks!” 

“No, he isn’t. Wait a minute! Now give 
me the reins.” 

At the sound of her voice Dan looked at her 
over his shoulder. 

“Well, I’ll be jiggered!” he seemed to say 
to himself, “Look who’s here!” 

“Good old Dan!” said Ethel, even if her 
voice did shake a little bit. “See, Uncle Or¬ 
lan. He knows me! He won’t hurt me 
now.” 

“Well, I will be jiggered!” Dan seemed to 
say again. “I’ve been hearing something 
about this from those two big lummoxes who 
share my stable, but I didn’t believe much of 
what they told me. But here she is—on me! 
Well—now, I guess I shall have to show her 
how a real gentleman carries a little lady. 


186 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


I guess itf’s my duty to show her how it’s done 
right.” 

So tricky Master Dan arched his tail and 
arched his neck and started out cultivating 
corn with such dainty steps that Uncle Orlan 
was very much surprised, stepping along be¬ 
hind the cultivator and watching the horse 
and the corn both as well as he could. After 
a few minutes of this putting on airs, Dan 
settled down to work; but he did not act 
tricky with Ethel on his back once, not one 
single time all that morning. 

Among horses he was a model of deport¬ 
ment, a perfect Mr. Turveydrop. 

But noon came. Uncle Orlan lifted Ethel 
down to the ground and let go of Dan’s 
bridle while he unfastened the stable door. 
In a jiffy Dan had his hind legs up so 
that he was almost fanning Uncle Orlan’s 
ears with his heels. Then, charging like a 
war horse, he ripped up the road, snorting, 
and he never came back until he was hungry 
at supper time. And then Master Dan 
wouldn’t have gone in the stable if Ethel 
hadn’t opened the door for him and said, 
“Poor old Dan!” just as if he had needed to 
have anybody sorry for a tricky horse. 


THE EIERY STEED 


187 


But he went in, almost tearful, and sighed 
to himself as he started to eat a large supper 
of hay and held his head down when Uncle 
Orlan said to Ethel, “I always told you he 
couldn’t be depended upon!” But perhaps 
he felt better when he heard Ethel say, 

“That’s true, Uncle Orlan, but he wasn’t 
a bit tricky with mel” 


WHY THE SQUIRREL GAVE UP 
FARMING 


There was once a hard-working squirrel 
who had a fine farm all his own. He had 
ploughed and planted it and watched his yams 
and corn day and night, but he had never 
taken time to build himself a road. It was 
quicker and easier for the squirrel to go to 
his fields by way of the trees, scampering 
from one bough to another and then jumping 
to the next tree. It would really have been a 
waste of time, he decided, to bother building a 
road. 

Now in those days the spider walked on two 
of his long, thin legs and used all the rest for 
making trouble for other people, and you may 
be sure that he made a great deal of trouble, 
since he had so many spare legs. The spider 
had no farm and never raised any yams or 
com, but he heard of the squirrel’s fine, fer¬ 
tile fields and he made up his mind that he 
would have a hand in the harvesting. 

188 


WHY THE SQUIRREL GAVE UP FARMING 189 

But how should he go about it ? At last the 
spider thought of a plan. He went right to 
work building a neat road from the grove to 
the squirrel’s farm. It was exactly the kind 
of a road which ought to lead to any farm, and 
as he worked the spider scattered bits of 
broken pottery along it, as if the squirrel’s 
children had broken their dinner pots as they 
worked on the road, helping their father. 

When the road was completed, the spider 
called his children and they ran swiftly along 
it straight to the squirrel’s farm and began 
cutting down his corn. They used so many 
legs cutting the corn and binding it into bun¬ 
dles that before the squirrel came over to look 
at his crop that day, it was all gone. The 
corn field was nothing but a waste of stumps 
and the spiders, the bundles of corn under 
their legs, were speeding to the nearest vil¬ 
lage to sell it at the market. 

All would have gone well with the wicked 
spiders if the squirrel had not heard of a 
large harvesting of grain being taken toward 
the village. He was told this news by the 
crow, who was always on the lookout for 
corn. The squirrel ran easily through the 
tops of the trees and dropped down right in 


190 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


front of the company of thieving spiders, 
heavily loaded with so many bundles of the 
stolen corn. 

“That is my corn!” the squirrel accused 
them. “By what right are you taking it to 
the village?” 

“By the right of having it on the road,” 
said the older spider. “Is this not a road 
leading to and from a farm? Is it not the 
only road, and does that not prove that the 
farm is mine?” 

The poor squirrel was indeed puzzled. 
There was the road, strewn with bits of pot¬ 
tery such as he used in his home at the roots 
of a tree, and here was his crop of corn being 
taken to market. What was he to do about 
it? 

“Suppose you take counsel from a lawyer,” 
suggested the shrewd spider. “Anyone who 
has studied the law can settle this matter for 
you.” 

This seemed sensible so the squirrel led 
the spiders with their bundles of corn to the 
tree of an old monkey nearby, who was 
learned as an advocate. They put the case 
to him, but the squirrel got not a bit of 
satisfaction. 


WHY THE SQUIRREL GAVE UP FARMING 191 

“Who ever heard of a farm without a road 
leading to it!” jabbered the monkey. “Of 
course it must be the spider’s farm and this 
must be his corn since he is on his road with 
it. I should arrest you, Mr. Squirrel, for 
making a false accusation against this inno¬ 
cent family of industrious spiders!’ 1 ’ 

The spiders were well pleased with this de¬ 
cision and they hurried on toward the market, 
but suddenly a storm came up. Spiders are 
poorly equipped for the rain, having such 
quantities of legs that they can’t afford shoes, 
so these particular spiders laid their bundles 
of corn down beside the road and went into 
holes for shelter. When the rain was over, 
they ventured out again. 

At first they thought that they had lost the 
corn, for it was nowhere in sight. Then they 
saw that the crow was guarding it for them, 
his wide black wings spread over it there 
in the road, like the roofs of storehouses. 
“Thank you, Mr. Crow!” said thd spider, 
“You are a friend in need! Now we will re¬ 
lieve you of your trust and take our corn.” 

“Your corn!” said the crow with a scorn¬ 
ful caw. 4 ‘ I am waiting here only to show you 
that the monkey’s decision holds good. This 


192 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


is my corn, because I found it on the road.” 
And with that the crow took all the bundles 
of corn and flew away with them. 

Ever since then the crow has been es¬ 
pecially fond of corn, and the spider uses all 
his legs for running away on, because he is 
ashamed of himself. And the squirrel has 
given up farming, for he never was a road 
builder. He still takes his way through and 
by way of the trees, and does not trouble with 
the difficult business of farming. 


WHEN THE LAMB WAS A HERO 


Once upon a time, in the long-ago days, the 
lamb was larger than he is now and he 
thought that he was one of the greatest and 
most heroic of all the animals. Up and down 
the world he walked proudly, wearing his 
beautiful wool coat, and he challenged all 
whom he met to prove themselves more of a 
hero than he. 

And once, in the course of his travels, the 
lamb met a small toad who lived not far from 
the sea, and the toad, after listening to the 
Lamb’s boasting, told him that he could pull 
him right up to the very edge of the sea. 

“Foolish one!” said the lamb, “that is im¬ 
possible ! I am many times your size and as 
many times your strength.” 

But the toad persisted. ‘‘ Try me and see! ” 
he said. And he brought a long and thick 
rope and asked the lamb to take hold of one 
end tightly in his teeth. “Stand still until I 
am out of sight,” said the toad, “for, as you 

193 


194 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


say, I am but a little fellow and must be careful 
of my strength. Do not move until you feel 
a slight tugging on the rope.” 

With that, the toad took the other end of 
the long rope in his mouth and off he hopped, 
hopity, hopitty, hop, until he was far out of 
sight, taking the rope with him. And on he 
hopped until he had come to the edge of the 
sea. Then he hopped up into the top of a 
tree and from the top of the tree, he hopped 
far out onto the back of a whale whom he 
knew. “ Carry me out to sea for a little 
ride,” begged the toad who still held the end 
of the long rope in his mouth. This the whale 
did. 

The lamb felt suddenly a tugging at the 
rope. Harder and harder it came until he 
was pulled off his legs almost and had to go 
skipping down the road as fast as he could. 
Harder and harder pulled the rope and faster 
and faster skipped the lamb on his hurried 
way to the sea. He was not able to stop until 
he came to the water’s edge, and saw the 
little toad sitting in triumph on the back of 
the whale, and laughing at the lamb’s 
discomfiture. 

So the toad was the winner this time, but 


WHEN THE LAMB WAS A HERO 


195 


after a while the lamb, taking his frisky way 
up and down the world, forgot all about the 
fact that a little creature had outwitted him. 
And one day he came again upon his friend, 
the toad, sitting and basking beside the road. 
The toad winked and blinked his eyes and 
once more challenged the lamb. “I will race 
with you!” said the toad. “This will not be 
a tug of war, but a contest to see which of us 
can reach the sea first on our own legs.’’ 

“Well, that seemed easy to the lamb, who 
had long legs and was swift at racing. “I 
accept!” he said. 

“Very well,” said the toad, “but wait until 
tomorrow so that we will both be in the best 
of condition.” 

The morning of the race dawned and there 
was the toad waiting for the lamb. “The 
word for you is laculay, laculay said the 
toad in his hoarse voice. “When you call 
laculay, I will answer guluhango, tango, lay/’ 

Then they were off, the toad going hopitty, 
hop, and the lamb frisking along as fast as he 
could and far outrunning the toad. He did 
not stop to look behind him at the toad or 
call for some time, but when he did call as 
he had been instructed, “Laculay, laculay 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


196 

he heard the reply, “Gulubango, bango, lay” 
from a long distance in front of him instead 
of from behind where he had left the little 
toad hopping slowly along. 

That was odd. The Lamb ran on until his 
heart beat so fast that it seemed as if it would 
burst. And presently he came up to the toad 
far ahead of him. He must have passed the 
lamb so swiftly that the lamb had not seen 
him, but the lamb passed him now. On he 
ran faster and faster. 

But he called again after a little. “Lacu - 
lay, laculay!” called the lamb and once more 
the answer, “Gulubango, bango, lay” came 
from far in front of him instead of from the 
rear. So the lamb knew that again the toad 
had passed him swiftly, and he hurried on 
until his heart beat and thumped faster. It 
beat to bursting and as he ran he called loudly, 
“Laculay, laculay ” 

But always the reply came, “Gulubango, 
bango, lay,” from far ahead of the lamb, not 
from behind. 

The lamb began then to feel that perhaps he 
was not quite the hero he had always thought 
himself. With his heart going pitter, patter, 
thump, he went on until he reached the goal 


WHEN THE LAMB WAS A HERO 


197 


and there sat the toad, basking in the sun and 
blinking and winking. But it was the first 
toad’s twin brother, and he had stationed his 
other brothers and his father and even his 
grandfather along the road to answer when 
the lamb called. He, himself, had never 
stirred from the starting point, for there are 
more ways than one of winning a race. 

After that the lamb stayed meekly in a pas¬ 
ture, avoiding the open roads and hoping to be 
able to escape the toad’s laughter. But when 
he did come upon the toad, catching flies in the 
pasture grass, the toad spoke to him quite se¬ 
riously. “Even if you did not win the race, 
Friend Lamb,” said the toad, “you might serve 
as a horse, a beast of burden. I spoke of you 
recently to the daughter of the King and she 
said how amusing it would be to see you with a 
bridle in your mouth and carrying a rider, per¬ 
haps a rider so humble as myself.” 

Oh, but the lamb was angryl He put his 
head down and butted the toad so that he was 
obliged to hop away for his life. And then 
the lamb ate himself fat and puffed himself out 
with pride until he had to lie down by the edge 
of the road. He had eaten so much that he 
was a very ill lamb indeed. 


198 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


And there at his side lay the toad, also 
humped up and ill, and the two took pity on 
each other and tried to think of ways of help¬ 
ing one another. “I might be able to carry 
you home on my back, Friend Toad,” sug¬ 
gested the Lamb. 

“You are indeed kind, Friend Lamb,” said 
the toad, and he crawled feebly up on the 
lamb’s back. 

Now, although the lamb did not know it, 
the toad was not ill. He was due at a party 
being given by the Princess, and he put a rope 
of grasses in the lamb’s mouth and directed 
him by means of a whip of cane until they 
were on the road to the castle. “This rope 
is only that I may hold myself better upon 
your woolly back, and the whip is to keep off 
the flies,” the toad explained to the lamb, but 
now they were in front of the castle and the 
lights shone full on them; a hero, a large 
woolly lamb, bringing a little green toad to 
the Princess’ party on his back! 

The Princess laughed. The King laughed. 
All the courtiers laughed. They led the lamb 
into the castle and put a blue ribbon with a 
tinkling bell on it around his neck and gave 
him food and drink. But the lamb felt very 


WHEN THE LAMB WAS A HERO* 


199 


meek. He has been meek ever since, and 
smaller and quiet. He seldom has anything 
to say, and when he does speak in some farm 
pasture it is timidly and as if he were ashamed 
of himself. 



OF WORKERS 








THE BEAWER BUILDS 


He thinks and builds better than any other 
living animal! 

He builds dams both great and small to pro¬ 
vide water in which to live, to store food and 
to escape from his enemies. He builds air¬ 
tight houses of sticks and mud, either on 
islands or on the shore. When he cannot live 
as a pond beaver with a house he cheerfully 
becomes a river-beaver. He lives in a river- 
bank burrow when house-building in a pond 
is impossible; and he will cheerfully tunnel 
under a stone wall from his pond when he 
wants to have an adventure and travel. 

He cuts down trees, both great and small, 
and he makes them fall as he wishes them to 
fall. He trims off all branches, and leaves no 
“slash” to cumber the ground. He buries 
green branches in great quantity in the mud in 
the bottom of his pond, so that in the winter he 
can get them under the solid ice. He digs 
canals, of any length he pleases, to float logs 

203 


204 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


and billets of wood from hinterland to pond. 

If you want beavers in your pond, and are 
wise, you can persuade them to build their dam 
where you wish it to be. This is how it was 
done in the Zoological Park of the City of 
New York. 

We dug out a pond of mud in order that the 
beavers might have a pond of water; and we 
wished the beavers to build a dam forty feet 
long, at a point about thirty feet from the iron 
fence where the brook ran out. On thinking it 
over we concluded that we could manage it by 
showing the animals where we wished them to 
go to work. 

We set a twelve inch plank on its edge, all 
the way across the dam site, and pegged it 
down. Above it the water soon formed a little 
pool and began to flow over the top edge in a 
little waterfall. Then we turned loose four 
beavers and left them. 

The next morning we found a cart-load of 
sticks and fresh mud placed like a dam against 
the iron fence. In beaver language this said 
to us; 

“We would rather build our dam here,—if 
you don’t mind. It will be easier for us and 
quicker.” 


THE BEAVER BUILDS 


205 


We took away all their sticks and mud; and 
in our language this action said to them; “No, 
we would rather have you build over the 
plank.’ ’ 

The next night more mud and sticks piled 
against the fence said to us; “We really in¬ 
sist upon building here.” 

We cleared away their materials a second 
time, saying in effect; “You shall not build 
against the fence. You must build where we 
tell you to.” 

Thereupon, the beavers started in build¬ 
ing over the plank, saying; “Oh well, if you 
are going to make a fuss about it, we will let 
you have your way.” 

So these beavers built a beautiful water¬ 
tight dam precisely where we had asked them 
to, and after that our only trouble was to keep 
them from overdoing their work, and flood¬ 
ing the whole valley. 


THE HORSE WHO WORKED IN 
THE DARK 


‘ 6 W hew !’ ’ whistled the stable boy. ‘ 6 Why, 
the poor little thing’s blind!” 

“A pity to kill it,” said his master, coming 
presently to the stable and naming the new 
foal, Caliban, although he wondered if it were 
worth feeding. Then the little foal was left 
with his mother, who saw no blemish in him. 

And though he was blind, little Caliban’s 
other senses made up for it. He learned to 
move about the stable and the yard. But when 
it came to frolicking in the fields, he was apt 
to stray in the wrong direction and needed 
calling when Mayflower, his mother, moved on. 
It puzzled Mayflower at first to find that little 
Cal did not see her when she came toward him, 
but at last she understood that he was blind 
and she redoubled her care and tenderness of 
him. 

But there came a day when Caliban lost his 
mother. He was old enough to go to the 
206 


A HORSE WHO WORKED IN THE DARK 207 

plough and the man who owned the stable 
where he had been born sold him at the village 
fair to a thrifty farmer who liked a bargain. 
The strange colt was turned into a field with a 
number of other horses, who in quite a human 
way, disliked the coming of this blind stranger. 
One horse, who had been soured by a master 
who had kicked him, tried to kick Caliban. 
Another made a point of pushing him to one 
side as he was about to graze. Caliban was 
meek and frightened; no creature on God’s 
earth was more unhappy and lost than he as 
he whinnied vainly for his mother. 

Soon there rose up for him a champion in 
the shape of a handsome horse known as 
Brutus. 

“Leave him alone, you cowards!” Brutus 
neighed until the others dispersed, and after 
that Brutus took the blind horse under his 
protection. 

Brutus and Caliban were stalled side by side. 
Whether they talked together or not, they 
understood each other. It may have been the 
way they breathed or their manner of rubbing 
noses and laying their ears together, but the 
blind horse could read Brutus’ language. 
And if Caliban strayed into the wrong field, 


208 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


Brutus would go too and put himself right in 
his way so that Caliban was bound to run into 
him. And Caliban would sniff Brutus and 
neigh and find his way back to the grazing 
pasture by following him, all right and happy 
because he had found his friend. 

But there came a time when Caliban fell 
again upon evil days, for Brutus was sold at 
the next fair. Caliban had learned to find his 
way about among the other horses of the farm 
and they were used to him, but with his friend 
gone he felt the ache of loneliness that is worse 
than any other pain. It made his wits dull 
and he blundered and stumbled at every turn, 
and the stableman kicked and cuffed him as a 
hopeless idler. 

“Turn Caliban out on the common to fend 
for himself!” the farmer ordered at last, worn 
out with his stupidity, “and if anyone makes 
an offer for him, take it.” 

But no one wanted Caliban, and all through 
the winter he was cold and hungry. It was a 
mystery how he lived. Now and then some 
children on their way to school in pity shared 
their lunch with the blind horse, or a kindly 
woman saved scraps from her pig tub for the 


A HORSE WHO WORKED IN THE DARK 209 


wandering creature who had no one to care 
for him. It seemed to be nobody’s business 
to see how he fared, and Caliban was dying 
by inches, suffering so with thirst and hunger 
that it was a wonder how he stood it. 

One bitter night a countryman crossed the 
windy common, taking a short cut home. He 
had been delayed at market and was in a hurry. 
Rather than wait for another day, he was 
ready to venture over rough ground trusting 
to luck to guide him. Darkness had set in 
early, and no stars were in the sky, but snow 
clouds which hid the light of the moon. This 
countryman, Conrad, hastened on, holding the 
same old lantern before him that had taken 
him as a boy to school at seven o’clock on a 
winter’s morning. An icy blast, scudding 
round the corner, suddenly blew it out, and as 
he groped his way past a bush, his hand 
came in contact with something moving. As 
Conrad tried to grasp it, a ghostly moan fell 
on his startled ears, and he drew back, 
shuddering. 

“What are you?’ 1 ’ he cried, calling to the 
gaunt form that suddenly loomed beside him. 
Then, for a moment, the clouds parted and he 


210 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


saw in the moonlight the old blind horse. 
Conrad spoke to Caliban as he would have 
to one of his own bairns; 

“My poor old fellow,” he said tenderly as 
he picked up one end of the frayed rope that 
served as a halter. “Ah, how thin—how 
thin!’’ he added, as he touched his side. “You 
shall come home with me, and I will feed you. 
Don’t be afraid—I am a friend.” 

The blind horse knew this without any tell¬ 
ing, and as fast as his stiff legs would carry 
him he followed where Conrad led. The shed 
in which he presently found himself was a 
humble one, but it was warm and dry, and the 
kindly man fed him and rubbed him down, 
talking softly to him the while. 

“You shall live with us, poor beastie,” he 
told Caliban. 

Caliban filled out amazingly on the good fare 
with which he was now provided. Conrad 
gave up his pipe that his horse might have 
his fill of corn. Caliban was quite a fine horse 
again by the time spring had returned, and 
Conrad, who had contracted to carry Her 
Majesty’s mails between the village and a dis¬ 
tant hamlet, began to ride instead of walking 
every day. 


A HORSE WHO WORKED IN THE DARK 211 

Soon the horse knew, by his sense of touch, 
every inch of the way. He could ford a 
stream as well as if he could see, and each twist 
of the road was fixed firmly in his mind. He 
stopped without being told at the usual halt¬ 
ing places, and since the mails in those long- 
ago times of Queen Victoria were carried at 
night, so as not to interfere with Conrad’s 
business in the day time, the horse’s blindness 
was actually a good thing. Darkness and 
light were the same to him, and if the lantern 
went out by chance in the wind, no one was 
any the worse. 

By and by the long rides grew too much for 
Conrad and his son took the mails instead. 
He was heavier than his father, was Jasper, 
but Caliban liked him and everything went 
well until mid-December, when Jasper caught 
a chill. He was very ill indeed and couldn’t 
risk the night ride with the bag of letters, but 
a deputy postman was promised. He was to 
be sent from the nearest market town. The 
mail bag was waiting, but still this deputy did 
not arrive. 

"When nine o’clock arrived without him, old 
Conrad got up shakily from his chair, declar¬ 
ing that he must carry round the mail himself. 


212 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


But his little grandson, come ten on Christmas 
Day, who from his bed in the loft had heard 
the talking, ordered him back. He was eager 
for the lonely ride; it would be a grand ad¬ 
venture for him. 

“Know the way?” Titus laughed to his 
grandfather, “I should think I did! And if 
I didn’t, wouldn’t old Cal take me? Go to 
sleep, all of you, and don’t worry. This is my 
job.” 

So Titus was carefully muffled up, his shock 
head topped with a warm fur cap that had 
been in the family for a hundred years, going 
down from father to son. With a proud feel¬ 
ing of being upon the Queen’s business and 
with two piping hot cookies stowed away in 
the pockets of his greatcoat the boy mounted 
old Caliban and started gaily on his journey. 

At first it was fun, while Titus’ young blood 
beat against the biting cold, and the midnight 
ride was thrilling. The stars shone out for 
him like the silver lamps they always sang 
about on Christmas Eve, and the snow threw 
back the glitter. The dense black shadows the 
horse made as he trod the crisp white path be¬ 
fore him were rather terrifying in the deep 
stillness, though the boy wouldn’t have owned 


A HORSE WHO WORKED IN THE DARK 213 

it for the world. So he lifted his voice and 
tried to sing, and old Caliban whinnied back. 

But now they became aware how cold it was. 
From the trees they passed hung dazzling icy 
fingers, and it seemed to Titus that he would 
soon be a figure of ice himself. He couldn’t 
feel his feet at all, and when he reached a 
lonely farm where he had to drop some letters 
into a hollow tree, his hands were almost too 
numb too grasp them. Caliban waited pa¬ 
tiently while Titus fumbled, and then hastened 
his steps as they proceeded to make up for 
lost time. 

How Titus cried, “Oh!” when a prowling 
fox darted out across the path but Caliban did 
not slacken his pace or swerve, for his nose 
told him what it was. The dreary hoot of an 
owl from a ruined shed made Titus jump, but 
the horse neighed, “Don’t be frightened!” and 
hurried on. The boy clasped him tightly 
round the neck, laid his head against his soft 
fiiane, and drifted off into dreamland. 

Titus awoke with a start, not knowing how 
long he had been asleep, though he fancied 
they must have passed the wayside receiving- 
house where he ought to have left a bulg¬ 
ing packet. It was to have been thrust in, 


214 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


according to his grandfather’s instructions, 
through a little window behind the porch 
which was always left open when the post was 
late so that the good folk within were not dis¬ 
turbed. Clapping his hand to his head as he 
tried to puzzle out where he was, Titus found 
that his cap was gone—the precious cap 
which had belonged to his grandfather when 
he was a boy. It could not be replaced. 

“It’s got to be found!” he told Caliban, 
almost crying as he scrambled down from 
the horse’s broad back, prepared to spend the 
night in searching for it. Leading the horse, 
he retraced his way along the frosty road, 
scanning the crisp snow anxiously. 

Two or three miles back he came to the re¬ 
ceiving house at which he should have called 
some hours since. He could leave the letters 
now at any rate, he remembered, but Her 
Majesty’s mails seemed of slight importance 
compared with the loss of his cap. Leaving 
Cal standing in the snow, Titus pushed 
through the swinging gate and made for the 
tiny window. To his surprise and delight, he 
found the cap lying just beneath it, while 
deeply imprinted in the snow were the foot¬ 
prints of a horse. He was staring at them 


A HORSE WHO WORKED IN THE DARK 215 

with wide open eyes when a voice called him 
from the door. 

“Is that you, Posty? What is the matter? 
Your beast woke us all up a short time since, 
a-pawing and snorting and kicking up his 
heels until we came out for the mail. And 
now here you are back again!” 

“I’m sorry and there’s nothing wrong,” 
said Titus hurrying off. Caliban stood just 
where Titus had left him, except that he had 
turned his face toward home. And as Titus 
clambered back into the saddle, his small 
round face was red with shame. 

He, a boy named Titus, and ten years old 
come Christmas, had gone to sleep at his post, 
while his blind horse, a poor dumb beast, had 
done his best to remind him of his duty. 
Knowing that he ought to stop at the receiv¬ 
ing house, Caliban had pushed through the 
gate and made his way to the little window that 
served as a letter box. The pawing and 
snorting must have been to wake Titus, since 
old Caliban was the quietest of creatures 
usually. And, even if he had not been able 
to wake him, Caliban had succeeded in knock¬ 
ing off Titus’ cap. 

“You are a better postman than I, old 


216 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


Cal!” said the boy as he trotted down the dim 
road. 

The long journey came to an end presently, 
and the honest little lad gave the horse all the 
glory of the safe delivery of Her Majesty’s 
mails. 

“Ay, he works well in the dark!” said 
Conrad quietly, though his eyes glowed with 
pride in his blind horse. 

And Caliban continued to work and ended 
his days in peace, a loved and honored 
comrade. 


WYLIE 


She was an exquisite shepherd dog, fleet, 
thin-flanked, dainty, and as handsome as a 
small greyhound, with all the grace of silky 
waving black and tan hair. We got her thus. 

William and I being but young boys then, 
and full of the knowledge and love of Tweed- 
side, having been on every hill-top from 
Muckle Mendic to the Lee Pen, we discovered 
early one spring that there was some odd moss 
to be found, west of Newbie Heights. 

We resolved to start out the next day on a 
search for this moss, which was supposed to be 
very beautiful, and we climbed all the way 
up the Glen to the cottage of Adam Cairns, 
the aged shepherd of the Newbie Mrs el, whom 
we knew, having been nursed by his daughter, 
Nancy. We found our way up the burn with 
difficulty, as the evening was getting dark; 
and on coming near the cottage heard them at 
their worship. 

But we got in, and made ourselves known, 
and had a famous tea with such cream and oat- 
217 


218 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


cake! Old Adam thought us two crazy lads 
to have climbed so far for a wee bit of moss, 
which after all we had not been able to see 
for the shortness of the day, and he asked 
us to stay the night with them. And as we 
turned into the box-bed for the night, Wylie 
came and thrust her long head in between us 
to be patted. 

It turned out that Adam, having made some 
money and being frail as well as old, was 
going to leave on Sunday and live with his son 
in Glasgow. We boys had been admiring the 
beauty and gentleness and perfect form of 
Wylie, the finest collie I ever saw, and I asked, 

“What are you going to do with Wylie?”• 

“Indeed,” said old Adam, “I hardly ken. 
I can not think of selling her, though she’s 
worth four pounds, and she’ll not like the 
town.” 

So I said, “Would you let me have her 1 ?” 

And Adam, looking at her fondly—she 
came instantly to him, and made of him—said, 
“Aye, I will, if you boys will be good to her.” 
An d so it was settled that when Adam left for 
Glasgow she should be sent to us by the 
carrier. 

Wylie came and we all loved her, even 


WYLIE 


219 


grandmother. And though she was often 
quiet, as if she was thinking of her master 
and her work on the hills, she madei herself 
at home and behaved in all respects like a 
lady. When she took a walk with me, if she 
saw sheep in the streets or road, she grew quite 
excited and helped with the work, and was 
curiously useful, the being so making her won¬ 
derfully happy. 

And so her small life went on, never doing 
wrong, always blithe and kind and beautiful. 
But some months after she came, there was 
a mystery about her. Every Tuesday evening 
Wylie disappeared. We tried to watch her 
but in vain. She was always off by nine 
o’clock in the evening and was away all night, 
coming home the next day weary and covered 
with mud as if she had traveled far. She 
slept all the next day. 

This went on for some months and we could 
make nothing of it. Poor dear creature! 
She looked wistfully when she came in, as if 
she would have told us where she had been if 
she could, and she was always especially fond 
of us then, but tired. 

Well, one day I was walking across the 
Grassmarket with Wylie at my heels and two 


220 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


shepherds there started, looking at her, and 
one of them said, 

“That’s her! That’s the wonderful wee 
one that nobody kens where she comes from 
nor whither she goes!” 

I asked this shepherd what he meant, and he 
told me that for months past Wylie had been 
making her appearance by the first daylight 
at the sheep-pens and had worked without 
stopping and to excellent purpose getting the 
sheep and lambs in for the shepherds. The 
shepherd said, “She’s a perfect miracle, and 
as supple as a fawn. She flies about like a 
fairy and never goes wrong. She beats all 
our dogs.” Then he told how the shepherds 
all knew our Wylie and said as soon as she 
appeared, “There’s that little wonderful one! 
We’ll get the lambs in now!” 

And the shepherds had tried to coax her to 
stop and be caught, and have a bone or two 
with the other dogs. But, no. Wylie was 
gentle about it but she was off as soon as she 
had finished herding the sheep and the lambs. 

For many a season the wonderful wee one 
was spoken of by these rough men. And 
Wylie lived with us and went on with her 
work once a week until she died in peace. 


OF OLD HORSES 





f 



















THE OLD HORSE 


We had an old, old man, Pimen Timofeitch. 
He was ninety years of age. He lived at his 
grandson’s house, but did no work. His back 
was bent; he walked with a stick, and found 
it hard to drag one leg after the other. All 
of his teeth were gone; his face was wrinkled. 
When he walked and when he talked he had 
no control over his lips, so that it was impos¬ 
sible to make out what he was saying. 

There were four brothers of us, and we all 
liked to ride horseback; but we had no gentle 
horses fit for us to ride. We were permitted 
to ride on one old horse whose name was 
Blackie. 

One day mother gave us permission to have 
a ride, and we all ran with our tutor to the 
stables. The coachman saddled Blackie for 
us, and the first to ride was our eldest brother. 

He took a long ride. He rode over the 
threshing floor and around the park, and when 
he came back, we shouted: 

223 


224 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“Now start him up!” 

Our eldest brother began to kick Blackie, 
and to strike him with his whip, and Blackie 
galloped past us. 

After our eldest brother had ridden, the next 
oldest took his turn. He also had a long ride, 
and whipped Blackie until he galloped down 
the hill. He wanted to ride even longer, but 
the third brother begged him to give him a 
chance as soon as possible. 

The third brother also rode over the thresh¬ 
ing floor and around the park, and then along 
through the village and then he came galloping 
down the hill toward the stable. When he 
rode up to us, Blackie was winded and his 
neck and flanks were black with sweat. 

When my turn came, I wanted to surprise 
my brothers and show them how well I could 
ride, and I began to urge Blackie on to his ut¬ 
most speed; but he would not stir from the 
stable. 

In spite of my blows Blackie would not gal¬ 
lop but only shied and backed. I grew angry 
with the horse, and pounded him with all my 
might with my whip and legs. I tried lashing 
him in the places where he was tenderest. I 
broke my whip, and with the broken handle 


THE OLD HORSE 


225 


I began to pound him on the head. But still 
Blackie would not budge. The tutor then 
spoke to me; 

“He has been ridden enough, sir; come 
down. Why torture the horse ?” 

I was vexed, and said; ‘ ‘ Why ? I have not 
ridden Blackie at all! I will make him gal¬ 
lop ! Give me a stronger whip; I will warm 
him up!” 

Then the tutor shook his head. “Ah, sir, 
have you no mercy? Just think; the horse 
is twenty years old. The horse is tired out. 
He is all winded; yes, and he is so old! Just 
think how old he is! It is as if Pimen Timo- 
feitch were here in our stable. If you should 
mount on Pimen Timofeitch and should whip 
him with all your might, say, now, would not 
that be a pity?” 

I knew well about Pimen, and I obeyed the 
tutor. I dismounted from the horse, and 
when I saw how he was laboring with his 
sweaty sides, and was puffing with his nostrils, 
and was switching his thin tail, then I realized 
how cruel I had been to the horse. But till 
that time I had supposed that the horse en¬ 
joyed it as much as I did. 

I became so sorry for Blackie that I began 


226 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


to caress Ms sweaty neck, and to ask Ms for¬ 
giveness for the beating I had given him. 
Since that time I have grown older, and I 
still always pity horses, and I always remem¬ 
ber Blackie and Pimen Timofeitch when I see 
any one abusing a horse. 


RIBSY 


The road was very dreary and dusty, and 
wound in and out in the most tiresome way 
until it seemed to have no end, and Davy ran 
on and on, feeling as if he should have to keep 
going for about a week. Indeed, he might 
have done so, if he had not, at a sharp turn of 
the road, come suddenly upon a horse and a 
cab. 

The horse was fast asleep when Davy 
dashed against him, hut he woke up with a 
start and, after whistling like a locomotive 
once or twice in a very alarming manner, went 
to sleep again. He was a very frowsy looking 
horse, with great lumps at his knees and a 
long, crooked neck like a camel’s. But what 
attracted Davy’s attention particularly was 
the word “RIBSY” painted in whitewash on 
his side in large letters. He was looking at 
this, and wondering if it was the horse’s name, 
when the door of the cab flew open and a man 
fell out. After rolling over a few times in the 

227 


228 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


dust, he sat up in the middle of the road and 
began yawning. 

He was even more odd-looking than the 
horse, being dressed in a clown’s suit, with a 
morning-gown over it by way of a top-coat, 
and a field-marshal’s cocked hat. In fact, if 
he had not had a whip in his hand no one 
would ever have taken him for a cabman. 
After yawning heartily he looked up at Davy 
drowsily and said, “ Climb in if you like, but 
don’t put your feet on the cushions!” 

Now this was a strange thing for him to say, 
for when Davy stepped inside, he found the 
only seats were some three-legged stools hud¬ 
dled together in the back part of the cab, all the 
rest of the space being taken up by a large 
bath-tub that ran across the front end of it. 
Davy turned on one of the faucets, but nothing 
came out except some dust and a few small 
bits of gravel, and he shut it off again, and, 
sitting down on one of the little stools, waited 
patiently for the cab to start. 

Just then the cabman put his head in at the 
window and, winking at him, said, “Can you 
tell me why this horse is like an umbrella?” 

“No,” said Davy. 

“Because he’s used up!” said the cabman. 


RIBSY 


229 


“I don’t think that’s a very good conun¬ 
drum,” said Davy. 

“So do I,” said the cabman, “but it’s the 
best I can make about this horse,” and with 
that he disappeared from the window. Pres¬ 
ently there was a loud trampling overhead, 
and Davy, putting his head out at the window, 
saw that the cabman had climbed up on the 
top of the cab and was throwing stones at 
the horse, who was still sleeping peacefully. 

“He doesn’t mind,” said the cabman cheer¬ 
fully, as he caught sight of Davy, “if he 
doesn’t start pretty soon, I’ll give him some 
snuff. That always wakes him up.” 

“Oh, don’t do that!” said Davy anxiously. 
“I’d rather get out and walk.” 

“Well, why don’t you?” said the cabman 
in a tone of great relief. “This is a very val¬ 
uable stand, and I don’t care to lose my place 
on it.” This seemed odd to Davy, for there 
was nothing to be seen anywhere around save 
the long road, but he jumped out of the cab, 
and walked away. 

But suddenly he heard the sound of gallop¬ 
ing hoofs behind him, and Ribsy came clatter¬ 
ing along the road, with nothing on him but 
his collar. He was holding his big head high 


230 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


in the air, like a giraffe, and gazing proudly 
about him as he ran. He stopped short when 
he saw the little boy, and, giving a triumphant 
whistle, said cheerfully, “How are you> 
again ?” 

It seemed rather strange to be spoken to by 
a cab-horse, but Davy answered politely that 
he was feeling quite well. 

‘ 6 So am I, ’ ’ said Ribsy. 6 6 The fact is, when 
it comes to being beaten about the head with 
a three-legged stool—if that horse is going to 
leave at all, it’s time he was off.” 

“I should think so,” Davy replied earnestly. 

“You 11 observe, of course, that I’ve kept on 
my shoes and my collar,” said Ribsy. “It 
isn’t genteel to go barefoot, and nothing makes 
a fellow look so untidy as going about with¬ 
out a collar. The truth is,” he continued, 
sitting down in the road on his hind legs, “the 
truth is, I’m not an ordinary horse, by any 
means. I have a history. ’ ’ 

“I’d like to hear it if you please,” said 
Davy in surprise. 

“Well, I’m a little hoarse,” began Ribsy. 

“I think you’re a great big horse,” said 
Davy in surprise. 

“I’m referring to my voice,” said Ribsy 


RIBSY 


231 


haughtily. And giving two or three prelim¬ 
inary whistles to clear his throat, he began: 

“It’s very confining, this living in stables, 

And passing one’s time among wagons and carts; 
I much prefer dining at gentlemen’s tables, 

And living on turkeys and cranberry tarts. 

‘‘1 find with surprise that I’m constantly sneezing; 
I’m stiff in the legs, and I’m often for sale; 

And the blue-bottle flies with their tiresome teaz- 

in&, 

Are quite out of reach of my weary old tail. 

“By the way,” said Ribsy, getting up and 
turning himself around, “what does my tail 
look like?” 

“I think,” said Davy, after a careful in¬ 
spection, “I think it looks something like an 
old paint-brush.” 

“So I supposed,” said Ribsy gloomily, and, 
sitting down again, he went on with his 
history. 

“As spry as a kid and as trim as a spider 
Was I in the days of the Turnip-top Hunt, 

When I used to get rid of the weight of my rider 
And canter contentedly in at the front. 


232 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“I never was told that this jocular feature 
Of mine was a trick reprehensibly rude, 

And yet I was sold, like a commonplace creature, 
To work in a circus for lodgings and food. 

“I suppose you have never been a circus 
horse ?” said Ribsy, stopping short in his 
verses again and gazing enquiringly at Davy. 
‘‘Never,” said Davy. 

“Then you don’t know anything about it,” 
said Ribsy. “Here we go again:— 

“Pray why, if you please, should a capable 
charger 

Perform on a ladder and prance in a show? 

And why should his knees be made thicker and 
larger 

By teaching him tricks that he’d rather not know? 

“Oh, why should a horse, for society fitted, 

Be doomed to employment so utterly bad, 

And why should a coarse-looking man be per¬ 
mitted 

To dance on his back on a top-heavy pad? 

“It made me a wreck, with no hope of improve¬ 
ment, 

Too feeble to race with an invalid crab; 


RIBSY 


233 


Pm wry in the neck, with a rickety movement 
Peculiarly suited for drawing a cab. 

They pinch me with straps, and they bruise me 
with buckles 

They drive me too rapidly over the stones;— 

A reason, perhaps, why a number of knuckles 
Have lately appeared on my prominent bones.’ ’ 

“I see them,” cried Davy eagerly, “I 
thought they were corns.” 

“Thank you,” said Ribsy haughtily, “As 
the next verse is the last, you needn’t trouble 
yourself to make any further observations. 

“I dream of a spot which I used to roam over 
In infancy’s days, with a frolicsome skip, 
Content with my lot which was planted with 
clover, 

And never annoyed by the crack of a whip. 

“But I think my remarks will determine the ques¬ 
tion 

Of why I am bony and thin as a rail; 

I’m off for some larks to improve my digestion, 
And point the stern moral conveyed by my tail. ’ ’ 

Here Ribsy got upon his feet again, and, 
after a refreshing fillip with his heels, can¬ 
tered off along the road, whistling as he went. 


234 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


Two large blue-bottle flies were on Ms back, 
and his tail was flying around, with an angry 
whisk, like a pin-wheel. 

Davy was about to start on again when he 
heard a voice and, looking back, saw the cab¬ 
man coming along the road at a brisk pace, 
dragging the cab after him. 

“Get in! Get in!” he shouted excitedly as 
the door flew open and a cloud of dust came 
out. “I’ve just turned on the dust to make 
believe we’re going tremendously fast.” 

Davy scrambled in and the cabman started 
off again. The dust was pouring from both 
faucets and the cab rocked from side to side 
like a boat in a stormy sea. Davy was almost 
choked and he sat down on the floor of the cab, 
very uncomfortable. But suddenly the motion 
ceased, the air cleared and the cabman came 
to a sudden stop, and Davy, to his astonish¬ 
ment, found himself sitting in the road in 
front of the little house that Jack built. 

The cabman and his cab had disappeared 
entirely, but, curiously enough, the cab door 
was standing wide open in the wall of the 
house, just above the porch, and in the open¬ 
ing stood the red cow gazing down upon him 
and solemnly chewing. 


RIBSY 


235 


“How did you get here?” she suddenly 
asked. 

“I came in a cab,” said Davy. “We came 
along behind the horse.” 

“People in cabs usually do,” said the 
cow. 

“But this horse was running away,” said 
Davy. 

“Where was the cabman?” asked the cow 
suspiciously. 

“He was drawing the cab,” said Davy. 

“Oh, come, I say,” said the cow, “good 
afternoon!” And with this the cow disap¬ 
peared from the opening, and the cab door 
shut to with a loud bang. 

Davy sat still for a moment, hoping that the 
dog or even a cat would appear, so that he 
might explain himself. None of them came, 
and the house itself began to go. 

First the chimneys sank down through the 
roof. Then the roof itself with its gable and 
dormer windows, softly folded itself flat down 
upon the house, out of sight. The cab door 
and the latticed windows fluttered gently for 
a moment and then faded away, one by one. 
Then the porch gravely took itself to pieces 
and carried itself, so to speak, carefully in 


236 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


left of Ribsy, the cab, the house or the cow 
through the front door. There was nothing 
save a brick wall, with climbing roses running 
all over it. 

Davy sat quite still, expecting something 
marvellous of this wall, but it showed no in¬ 
tention of doing anything, or going anywhere. 
Davy watched it attentively for a few mo¬ 
ments, then got up and resumed his journey 
along the road. 


WINDING UP TIME 


The boat’s keel grated on the pebbles and 
Jack saw two little old women approaching, 
gently driving a white horse before them. 
The horse had panniers, one on each side, and 
when his feet were in the water he stood still. 

“Will yon be so kind as to tell me if this is 
Fairyland ?” Jack asked one of the old women. 
She was very handsomely dressed in a red 
satin gown, and did not look in the least like a 
washer-woman, though it afterwards ap¬ 
peared that she was one. 

Neither of them answered but they began to 
empty the panniers of many small blue and 
pink and scarlet shirts, and coats and stock¬ 
ings ; and when they had made them into two 
little heaps they knelt down and began to wash 
them in the river, not taking any notice of 
Jack whatever. The old white horse, who was 
hanging his head over the lovely clear water, 
had a disconsolate air. 

At last the washer-woman in the blue satin 

237 


238 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


cloak said, “I shall leave off now. I’ve got a 
pain in my works.” 

‘ ‘ Do! ” said the other. “ We ’ll go home and 
have a cup of tea. “Then she glanced at 
Jack, who had landed. “Can you strike?” 
she asked. 

“If I choose,” he said, astonished. And 
then the red and the blue washer-women 
wrung out the clothes, and taking the old 
horse by the bridle began gently to lead him 
away. They were such odd little creatures, 
no taller than Jack. He ran after them, and 
as one said, “Whoa!” to the horse, and the 
other in the same breath said, “Gee!” Jack 
was astonished to see the old horse stop and 
say, speaking in a manner through his nose, 
“Now, then, which is it to be? Ihn willing to 
gee, and I’m agreeable to whoa, but what’s a 
fellow to do when you say them both 
together?” 

“Why, he talks!” exclaimed Jack. 

“It’s because he has a cold in his head,” ob¬ 
served one of the washer-women. “He al¬ 
ways talks when he’s got a cold, and there’s 
no pleasing him. Whatever you say or do, 
he’s not satisfied. Gee, Boney, do!” 


WINDING UP TIME 


239 


“Gee it is then,” said the horse and began 
to jog on. 

“It appears that your horses don’t talk,” 
observed the blue washer-woman to Jack. 

“Never,” replied Jack. “They can’t.” 

“You mean they won’t,” interrupted the 
old horse. “You’ll find out some day, per¬ 
haps,” he continued, “whether horses can 
talk or not.” 

“Shall I?” asked Jack very earnestly. 

“They’ll tell!” proceeded the old horse. 
“I wouldn’t be you when they tell how you’ve 
used them.” 

“Have you been ill used?” said Jack in an 
anxious tone. 

“Yes, of course he has,” one of the old 
women said, “but he has come here to get all 
right again. This is a very wholesome coun¬ 
try for horses, isn’t it, Boney ?” 

“Yes,” said the horse. 

“Well, then jog on, there’s a dear,” con¬ 
tinued the old woman. “Why, you will be 
young again soon, you know—young and game¬ 
some, and handsome. You’ll be quite a colt by 
and by, and then we shall set you free to join 
your companions in the happy meadows.” 


240 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


At this the old horse pricked up his ears 
and quickened his pace considerably. 

“He was shamefully used,” observed the 
red washer-woman. “Look how lean he is; 
you can see his ribs. 

“Yes,” said the blue one. “And he gets 
low-spirited when he thinks of all he has gone 
through, but he is a vast deal better than he 
was. He used to live in London. His master 
always carried a long whip to heat him with, 
and never spoke politely to him.” 

“London!” exclaimed Jack, “why that is 
in my country. How did the horse get here, 
in Fairyland'?” 

“That’s no business of yours,” answered one 
of the old women, “but I can tell you he came 
because he was wanted.” 

“You be polite to the boy,” interrupted the 
horse in a querulous tone. “I don’t bear him 
malice.” 

“You see,” observed the red old woman, 
“what a good disposition Boney has. Pray, 
are you a boy?” 

“Yes,” said Jack. 

“A real boy, who needs no winding up?” 
asked the blue old woman curiously. 

“I don’t know what you mean, or what you 


WINDING UP TIME 


241 


meant about my being able to strike,” Jack 
answered, “but I am a real boy certainly.” 

“Ah!” she replied, “Well, I thought you 
were by the way Boney talked to you. How 
frightened you must be! I wonder what will 
be done to all your people for working and 
driving and beating so many beautiful crea¬ 
tures to death every year that comes. They’ll 
have to pay for it some day, you may depend.” 

Jack grew alarmed, but the other old woman 
spoke. “But Boney’s all right now,” she 
said, “or will be soon. Only he has to begin 
at the wrong end.” 

“What do you mean?” asked Jack. 

“Why in this country,” she answered, 
“they begin by being terribly old and stiff, 
and they seem unhappy and jaded at first, 
but by degrees they get young again, as you 
heard me reminding him.” 

“This must be a very nice country to live 
in,” said Jack. 

“For horses it is,” said the old lady 
significantly. 

“Well,” said Jack,” it does seem very full 
of haystacks, and all the air smells of fresh 
green grass.” 

At this moment they came to a beautiful 


242 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


meadow, and the old horse stopped and turn¬ 
ing to the blue-eoated woman said, “Faxa, I 
think I could fancy a handful of clover.” 
Upon this Faxa snatched Jack’s cap off his 
head, and in a very active manner jumped 
over a little ditch, and gathering some clover 
presently brought it back full, handing it to 
the old horse with great civility. 

“You don’t need to be in such a hurry,” ob¬ 
served the old horse: “Some day, if you are 
not more careful, your weights will be running 
down.” 

“It’s nothing but my natural zeal,” the old 
woman replied. And as she came closer to 
give Jack his cap, he heard a curious sort of 
little ticking noise, which startled him, for it 
came from inside of her. 

But they hurried him on. “I hear the 
bell,” urged the old woman, who was called 
Dow by Boney, “and we are a long way 
from the palace.” 

Jack himself, in fact, heard a violent ring¬ 
ing of a bell at some distance, so they all four 
ran. And as they ran, people gathered from 
all sides—fields, cottages, mills—until at last 
there was a little crowd and they were all mak¬ 
ing for a large house, the wide door of which 


WINDING UP TIME 


243 


was standing open. Jack stood with the 
crowd and peeped in. There was a woman 
sitting inside upon a rocking chair, a tall, 
large woman, with a gold-colored gown on, and 
beside her stood a table covered with things 
that looked like keys. 

“What is that woman doing?” he said to 
Paxa, who was standing near by. 

“Winding ns np, to be sure!” she replied. 
“Winding np old and tired horses and folks. 
Yon didn’t think, did yon, that a horse or a 
washer-woman conld go on forever?” 

“ Winding yon np every evening, jnst like 
watches?” asked Jack in amazement. 

“Unless we have misbehaved onrselves,” she 
answered,” and then she lets ns ran down.” 

“And what then?” 

“What then?” repeated Faxa, “why, then 
we have to stop and stand against a wall until 
the Queen is pleased to forgive ns, and let one 
of onr friends carry us in to be set going 
again.” 

Jack looked in. Near the door lay a beauti¬ 
ful brown mare. She was lying in a languid 
and rather affected attitude, with a load of 
fresh hay before her, and two grooms, one of 
whom stood holding a parasol over her head, 


244 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


and the other was fanning her. Inside, every¬ 
body passed in and stood close by the woman. 
One after the other she took by the chin with 
her left hand, and with her right hand selected 
a key which pleased her. It seemed to Jack 
that there was a tiny key-hole in the back of 
their heads, and that she put the key in and 
wound them up. 

“You must take your turn with the rest of 
us,” Boney told Jack. 

“There’s no key-hole in my head,” said 
Jack. 

“But you must do as the others do,” Boney 
persisted, “and if you have no key-hole, our 
Queen will make you one.” 

“Make a hole in my head, ,? exclaimed Jack, 
“no such thing!” 

“We shall see,” said Faxa quietly. And 
Jack was so frightened that he set off, and 
ran back toward the river as fast as he could. 

Many of the people called to him to stop, 
but they could not run after him, because they 
needed winding up. However, they would 
certainly have caught him, for before he got 
to the river he heard behind him the footsteps 
of those who had first been wound by the 
Queen, and he only just had time to spring 


WINDING UP TIME 


245 


into the boat when they reached the edge of 
the water. 

No sooner was he on board than the boat 
swung round and he was out in the middle of 
the stream. He saw that the sun was drop¬ 
ping down in the west, and by this time he felt 
quite tired and sleepy. So he laid down in the 
bottom of the boat, and fell into a doze, and 
then into a dream. In the dream was Boney, 
now a sportive young colt whom Jack, in the 
happy meadows, was not able to catch. 






OF FRIENDS 



THE ELEPHANT WHO WAS LONELY 


The King’s elephant lived in a fine stable 
and outside there lived a dog, only a mongrel 
dog, but friendly. And it came about that 
the dog formed a habit of going in the stable 
and visiting with the elephant, feeding on food 
that the elephant left after his meals. After 
a while these two, the great elephant with his 
mighty body and his long swinging trunk, and 
the little yard dog became the fastest of 
friends. They took all their meals together 
in the stable. When the elephant felt sad, 
the dog howled. When the dog was happy, 
the elephant would lift him gently in the end 
of his trunk wound about the dog’s small body, 
and either give him a ride on his back or 
swing him up in the air. 

They fed, sorrowed, rejoiced, even slept to¬ 
gether until one day a Rajah of that country, 
riding by and seeing the strange sight of the 
friendship of these two, remarked upon it. 
“That is a very clever dog!” the Rajah said 

249 


250 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


to the elephant’s keeper. “Will you sell him 
to me? I will take him home to my country 
house to amuse me.” 

There had never been any special value set 
on the little mongrel cur of the stable yard, 
but when the elephant’s keeper heard the 
words of the Rajah and saw him open his bag 
and take out a handful of gold, he bowed low 
and said that the dog might go at once. So 
the dog, who was the elephant’s best friend, 
was sold and taken to a place in the country 
far away from his own stable yard. 

Now an elephant, for all his size and clumsy 
appearance, thinks and seldom forgets those 
whom he loves. And when it was his supper 
time, and the little dog was not there in the 
stable to share the food with him, the King’s 
elephant would not eat. Not even his keeper 
could make him take food. When morning 
came, and the elephant was not awakened by 
the good-morning bark of the dog at his great 
feet, again he refused to eat. He would not 
bathe, for he and the dog had made the ele¬ 
phant’s bath a frolic, the elephant squirt¬ 
ing water from his trunk over the dog. 
And it seemed to the elephant’s keeper, 


THE ELEPHANT WHO WAS LONELY 251 

and to the other keepers and to the servants 
and to even the chief servant that the elephant 
must be ailing. 

News of this carried to the ears of the King, 
who rode in his palanquin on the back of the 
elephant to hunt in the jungle. The King had 
word that his most prized elephant mourned 
in the stable and would neither eat nor bathe. 
So the King sent for the chief of the servants 
to enquire if he had heard any rumor as to 
what was the cause of the elephant’s strange 
illness. 

“Your Majesty,” said the chief of the serv¬ 
ants, “there seems to be nothing the matter 
with the elephant’s body, but his mind and 
heart are affected. The elephant mourns for 
the loss of his playmate.” 

“A playmate?” asked the King. 

“Yes, your Majesty,” said the chief of the 
servants. “The elephant had a little mongrel 
dog from the stable yard with whom he used 
to eat and play and sleep. But the keeper 
tells us that this little dog went away a period 
of three days ago, since when the elephant 
has sorrowed and refused his food. He will 
die if this sorrow continues with him.” 


252 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


So the King sent for the keeper and of 
him he enquired about the whereabouts of the 
dog. 

“I do not know/’ the keeper told him dis¬ 
honestly. “All I know is that the dog went 
away three days ago and has not been seen 
since. It may be that some farmer passing 
by and seeing how good-natured our dog was, 
took him away.” 

“That is well, then,” said the King. “I 
shall send couriers for the length of the king¬ 
dom to try and find this little friend for whom 
my elephant mourns. If any man has this 
dog and will turn him loose, I will give him 
a bounty in gold.” 

So the wicked keeper was outwitted, for the 
King’s couriers went to the ends of the king¬ 
dom, spreading the news, and they soon found 
the little dog, also mourning in the palace of 
the Rajah, for he too was lonely. When the 
dog was brought back to his own stable yard 
he ran, barking and wagging his faithful tail, 
until he reached the huge elephant standing, 
bowed and weak, in his place. And there at 
the feet of the elephant, the dog stood looking 
up at the elephant’s small, half-shut eyes, so 
far away, and yet seeing him. 


THE ELEPHANT WHO WAS LONELY 


253 


The elephant was transformed. He lifted 
his little friend, the dog, in his trunk and set 
him very gently upon his head, between his 
big flapping ears. Then he paraded up and 
down the grounds giving the dog a triumphal 
ride. After this, with the King and all his 
retinue watching, the two ate together. It 
was a sight for even a King, this devotion in 
friendship. 

And the elephant and the dog lived together 
in happiness and friendship all the rest of 
their lives. 


THE DOG AND CAT FROM THE SKY 


In the olden days when there were Tsars 
wearing crowns in Russia, a lad came into 
his inheritance, which was three hundred gold 
roubles, and he went at once to the market 
place to spend it. 

Furs and grain and horses and fine kiosks 
and all manner of beautiful samovars were 
displayed there, all of these useful things for 
a lad who was thinking of setting up house¬ 
keeping for himself. But he saw, in a far 
corner of the market, a neglected dog and a cat, 
who for warmth’s sake were huddled close 
together. And this lad, foolish but good- 
hearted, bought the cat and the dog, although 
he was obliged to pay a hundred roubles apiece 
for the pair of them. 

He put the cat under one arm and the dog 
he dragged along at his side, and he was about 
to go home in order to escape the gibes of his 
neighbors, who laughed at the manner in which 
he had wasted his patrimony, but just then, 

254 


THE DOG AND CAT FROM THE SKY 255 

at a goldsmith’s stall, this lad saw a curious 
ring. 

It was made of iron, or some such metal, 
broad and oddly carved, and nobody was bar¬ 
gaining for it, although its sides were cut with 
designs of heroes. The lad’s fancy was struck 
by the ring and he asked its price, his eyes 
big with his desire for it. Of course the gold¬ 
smith, who had picked it up from a heap of 
loot after a battle, put no value on an iron 
ring but he set a high price on it just the 
same, for he was avaricious. 

“One hundred roubles and cheap at that!” 
he said. 

Well, our lad had exactly an hundred rou¬ 
bles left, so he took them out of his wallet 
and paid for the ring, which he put on his 
finger and hurried home. All his gold gone, 
his inheritance wasted, and nothing to show 
for it but a dog, a cat, and a worthless old 
ring. The lad set the cat down on the door¬ 
step. How strange! He had not noticed this 
when he bought her, but the cat had a long, 
golden tail, like the rays of the sun or the 
flaming tail of a comet! It gave her a fine 
appearance. The dog, also, looked valuable, 
for he had a pair of long silvery ears that hung 


256 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


down the sides of his head as far as the 
ground. The lad rubbed his forehead and in 
so doing he twisted the iron ring about. 
Presto, and marvellous! There stood thirty 
serving boys and one hundred and seventy 
heroes in shining mail, crowding his poor 
courtyard and ready to do him service! And 
when he turned the ring again, they disap¬ 
peared. He could summon and dismiss them 
at his will. 

So the lad had bought good fortune after 
all, and the first thing he did was to set out 
for a neighboring province where there lived 
a beautiful but haughty princess, for he had 
a mind to win her and bring her back to his 
village. He started at once, carrying the cat 
whose golden tail shed a radiance like the day 
in his path, and leading the dog with the long 
silver ears. So they traveled, summoning the 
soldiers by a turn of the ring when they 
met robbers in the forest, and sending the 
serving boys ahead to provide cream and 
bones and bread for their food. By these 
means they came to the kingdom of the beauti¬ 
ful but haughty princess, who said she would 
be willing to return with the lad to his village, 
but first he must prove his worth. 


THE DOG AND CAT FROM THE SKY 257 

A bountiful meal of rich meats and rare 
wines was set before him, and the lad ate and 
drank so unwisely that he fell into a deep 
sleep. During his sleep the warriors of the 
princess entered his chamber and took his 
magic ring. Then they went off to battle, the 
princess at their head with the ring which 
would summon enough warriors to make them 
victorious and so add to their possessions. 
And before they went, they were careful to 
lock the gates, so that the luckless lad would 
awake to find himself a prisoner. 

The cavalcade took its proud way, thinking 
the princess would be invincible. But behind 
them went two whom they had not counted on, 
the dog and the cat. They were faithful to 
their master, and they were brother and sister 
in those days. On they hastened, sleeping 
under hedges and hiding behind trees in the 
forest, and when they came to a stream, the 
dog carried the cat across upon his back al¬ 
though at every stroke the cat became heavier. 
He swam bravely until they reached the op¬ 
posite bank, and to reward him for this serv¬ 
ice, the cat went ahead and led him through 
the darkness of the night, for her eyes could 
pierce the dark. 


258 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


All the way, the forces of the princess, 
through the help of the magic ring, were vic¬ 
torious. The princess took up her dwelling 
upon the edge of a valley, where from her 
tower, she could watch her army, and night 
and day she wore the ring. Presently two 
humble wayfarers, the dog with the long ears 
and the cat with the golden tail, came to 
her gates and offered their services as cook 
and housemaid. They were at once engaged, 
and proved very useful. The dog caught and 
cooked game to perfection, and the cat, her 
beautiful tail waving behind her, went softly 
through the rooms of the princess’ dwelling, 
sweeping them and gathering up every speck 
of dust. 

The two worked at night even. The cat 
would not rest until she had seen that the prin¬ 
cess was sound asleep. She sat by the case¬ 
ment, slowly waving her tail like a gorgeous 
fan, and looking silently out at the stars until 
the soft breathing of the princess beneath her 
silken coverings told that she was asleep. And 
one morning the princess awoke to find that 
her ring was gone. And her cook and her 
matchless housemaid were also gone, for they 
had remained only long enough to get their 


THE DOG AND CAT FROM THE SKY 259 

master’s property and start back with it, the 
cat carrying the ring for safety in her mouth, 
to release the lad from his imprisonment. 

Soon they were followed by the princess 
and her soldiers, for they fell into sore straits 
without the ring to summon help. They fol¬ 
lowed the paw prints of the dog and the cat, 
and one day close to evening they were about 
to ford a stream, when the princess saw a 
strange sight. As usual, the dog stepped 
boldly into the water and his sister, the cat 
with the golden tail, placed herself upon his 
back. They seemed to lose themselves in the 
ending of the day, the cat’s tail floating above 
the water like the golden glow of the rising 
moon, and the dog’s long ears lying on the 
surface of the stream as does the image of 
the pale twilight. And the princess did not 
dare to ford the stream that night, for she 
knew that she had been served by two animals 
from the sky. She had been allowed to see 
Eyes of the Blind, the cat who comes from the 
moon, and Legs of the Lame, the dog who ad¬ 
mits the twilight after the gates of day are 
closed, and who lives in the moon. 

In the morning, there were the cat and the 
dog on the other side of the river, so the prin- 


260 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


cess and her train joined them in great respect 
and humbleness. They went on together to 
the kingdom, which this princess, who was a 
daughter of a Tsar, shared with the lad who 
had spent his inheritance so wisely. 


THE MONKEY WHO BROUGHT 
THANKSGIVING 


The monkey lived in a boarding bouse in a 
small town. With him lived a well-to-do cat, 
who bad to bave special food to make her fur 
grow longer and silkier, a prize dog who ate 
too much and so was having a special diet, and 
several other animals including a disagreeable 
poodle, who bad once danced in a circus and 
talked about it too much. 

They were all there for the purpose of being 
taken care of, all except the monkey. He bad 
been taken in out of charity in bis ragged little 
cap with its draggled feather, bis scarlet vel¬ 
vet coat and with bis tin cup for pennies when 
be bad been deserted by bis hurdy-gurdy 
master. 

Everybody was tolerant of the monkey in 
the boarding bouse, but they talked to them¬ 
selves about bis manners. He insisted upon 
wearing bis cap at meals, and be would shake 
bis little tin cup when the owners of the ani- 
261 


262 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


mals came to call on them, although this was 
because he had been taught to do it. At last 
they spoke about the monkey openly. 

“An ill-bred creature indeed!” snarled the 
circus poodle, if the monkey came near him. 

“Don’t touch my nice long fur!” spit the 
well-to-do cat if the monkey so much as looked 
at her. 

“Don’t make me watch you eat!” growled 
the dog-show dog who was dieting, “I am weak 
myself for lack of food.” 

So the monkey formed a habit of sitting 
by himself in the crotch of a tree in the garden 
of the boarding house and watching over the 
garden wall the seasons and the people pass¬ 
ing. He was a very lonely little animal for, 
although you may not have known it, the 
monkey loves company. He likes to run with 
his family. 

So he sat there in the crotch of the tree, 
which was an apple tree, and once he grew 
bold enough to pick an apple and throw it 
over the wall at a boy who was going by on 
his way to school. Oh, how big the eyes of 
the boy grew! And the monkey chattered 
merrily as he had not before in a long time. 
After that he made a practice of throwing ap- 


THE MONKEY AND THANKSGIVING 263 

pies and nuts and once a cooky at the children, 
nntil he had made friends among them. That 
was late summer, and soon it was fall and then 
Thanksgiving time. 

Now that the leaves were off the trees, the 
monkey could see a long way down the street. 
He may have remembered hearing stories from 
his mother of how his grandfather and great¬ 
grandfather used to run by themselves, scam¬ 
pering among the branches of great trees and 
scurrying along the silent paths of the forest. 
However that may have been, the monkey did 
something very bold the day before Thanksgiv¬ 
ing. Wearing his ragged little cap with its 
feather and his still more ragged little scarlet 
velvet coat, and swinging his tin cup on a 
chain around his neck, he went all the way up 
to the top of the apple tree. He waved his 
tail airily at the well-to-do cat basking below 
him in the late sunshine of the garden wall. 
He shook one paw at the disagreeable poodle, 
who was too busy remembering his past to 
plan new adventures. Then he jumped to the 
wall, down to the street, and was off. 

The monkey came very near tripping up 
Tommy Parker, who was helping his grand¬ 
mother take home the Thanksgiving turkey 


264 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


and the cranberries and the nuts and the rai¬ 
sins in a large basket. 

“Look at the monkey!” they cried, and they 
followed him. 

Then he met Jane Brewster who had been 
to the bakery with her mother and together 
they had many packages of buns and pies and 
cakes and other goodies for Thanksgiving. 

“Look at the monkey!” they cried and they 
also followed. 

More and more children followed, for it was 
the Thanksgiving vacation when much shop¬ 
ping and marketing had to be done. Children 
with jugs of molasses, children with baskets 
of turnips and potatoes, children with pack¬ 
ages of sugar and boxes of eggs, children with 
bags of crimson cranberries and baskets of 
rosy apples and all the rest of the spicy, sug¬ 
ary Thanksgiving dinner things followed until 
the procession behind the monkey was several 
blocks long and they could not see him. 

“There is a monkey somewhere ahead!” one 
child would say to another, and so they went on 
around corners, up one avenue and then down 
a side street and back again as a rabbit road 
goes, doubling and crossing itself. AH the 
time the monkey skipped along merrily, and 


THE MONKEY AND THANKSGIVING 265 

after a while a policeman and a man who 
wrote stories for the town newspaper joined 
on at the end of the line. 

On raced the monkey, his tin cup rattling 
and the feather in his cap floating as he hur¬ 
ried on, thinking he was his grandfather or 
his great-grandfather in the forest with the 
tribe running at his heels. On, on went the 
monkey until he reached the end of the town 
and went right in Bridget’s and Tommy’s 
kitchen. 

Bridget and Tommy were not going to have 
any Thanksgiving dinner, for their father was 
ill upstairs, but they had enough food to share 
with a tired out little monkey, come like a 
gift of the fairies, out of the street and up 
onto their kitchen table. He chattered, trying 
to tell them why he had come. When Tommy 
Parker and Jane Brewster reached the house, 
the monkey was eating a piece of bread and 
butter as if he had always lived in that kitchen. 
But there was such a crowd that had followed 
him that the small yard would not hold them, 
so only the policeman and the man who wrote 
for the newspaper went in to see the monkey. 

After the monkey had been patted by the 
policeman and had told the newspaper man 


266 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


that he had left his hoarding house forever, 
people and children began giving him things 
for Thanksgiving. They gave him a turkey 
and turnips and pies and nuts and raisins, 
all the good things they had been carrying 
so far and so long as they followed him. 

But he gave his Thanksgiving dinner to 
Bridget and Tommy, for all he wanted or 
cared for was enough food and kindness to 
fill his little tin cup. His picture was put in 
the newspaper and the boarding house invited 
him to come back again, but the monkey 
never did. He had brought Thanksgiving 
and found himself a friendly family, so what 
else mattered*? He could curl his tail scorn¬ 
fully and shake his paw at all the disagreeable 
poodles and well-to-do cats in the world. 


IN THE FOREST 










HOW THE CAT BECAME HEAD 
FORESTER 


If you drop Vladmir by mistake, you know 
how he always falls on his feet. And if Vlad¬ 
mir tumbles off the roof of the hut, he always 
falls on his feet. Cats always fall on their 
feet, on their four paws, and never hurt them¬ 
selves. And as in tumbling, so in life. No 
cat is ever unfortunate for very long. The 
worse things look for a cat, the better they 
are going to be. 

Well, once upon a time, not so very long ago, 
an old peasant had a cat and did not like 
him. He was a Tom-cat, always fighting; 
and he had lost one ear, and so was not pretty 
to look at. The peasant thought he would 
get rid of the old cat and buy a new one from 
a neighbor. He did not care what became 
of the old cat so long as he never saw him 
again. It was no use thinking of killing him, 
for it is a life’s work to kill a cat, and it’s 
likely enough that the cat would come alive 
in the end. 

So the old peasant took a sack, and he 

269 


270 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


bundled the Tom-cat into the sack and he 
sewed it up and slung it over his back and 
walked off into the forest. When he had gone 
many versts into the forest, he took the sack 
with the cat in it and threw it away among the 
trees. 

“You stay there!” said he, “and if you do 
get out in this desolate place, much good may 
it do you, you old quarrelsome bundle of bones 
and fur!” 

The bag flew through the air, and plumped 
down through a bush to the ground. And the 
old Tom-cat landed on his feet inside it, very 
much frightened but not hurt. Thinks he, 
this bag, this flight through the air, this bump 
means that my life is going to have a change. 
Very well; there is nothing like something new 
now and again. 

And presently he began tearing at the bag 
with his sharp claws. Soon there was a hole 
through which he could put his paw. He 
went on tearing and scratching, and soon there 
was a hole through which he could put two 
paws. He went on with his work, and soon 
he could put his head through, all the easier 
because he had but one ear. A minute or two 
after this, and he wriggled out of the bag, 


THE CAT BECAME HEAD FORESTER 


271 


stretched himself and stood up in the forest. 

He washed himself all over, curled his tail 
proudly in the air, cocked his only ear, and set 
off walking under the forest trees. 

“I was the head Tom-cat in my village,” 
he said to himself. “If all goes well, I shall 
he head here too.” And he walked along as 
if he were the Tsar himself. 

Well, he walked on and on and as he was 
walking, he met a fox, a vixen, a very pretty 
young thing, gay and giddy like all girls. And 
the fox saw the cat and was very much aston¬ 
ished. 

“What a strange looking animal!” she said 
to herself, “and with only one ear. How 
handsome!” 

And she came up and made her bows to the 
cat, and said, 

“Tell me, great lord, who are you? What 
fortunate chance has brought you to this for¬ 
est? And by what name am I to call your 
Excellency?” 

The cat arched his back, set all his fur on 
end, and said, very slowly and quietly, 

“I have been sent from the far forests of 
Siberia to be Head-forester over you. And 
my name is Cat Ivanovitch.” 


272 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“O Cat Ivanovitch!” said the pretty young 
fox, making more bows, “I did not recognize 
you. I beg your Excellency’s pardon. Will 
your Excellency honour my humble house by 
visiting it as a guests” 

1 1 I will, ’ ’ said the Tom-cat. ‘‘ And what are 
you called?” 

“My name, your Excellency, is Lisabeta 
Ivanovna.” 

“Let us start then, Lisabeta,” said Cat 
Ivanovitch. 

So they went together to the Fox’s earth. 
Very snug, very neat inside it was; and the 
cat curled himself up in the best place while 
the fox, Lisabeta Ivanovna, made ready a 
tasty dish of game. And while she was mak¬ 
ing the meal ready, she dusted the furniture 
with her tail and got out all the dainties that 
she had, including the best tea. And she 
started the samovar for the great Cat 
Ivanovitch, the cat with one ear who had come 
from the far Siberian forests to be the Head- 
forester. 

They ate up everything there was in the 
place. 

Next morning the pretty young fox went 
off busily into the forest to get food for her 


THE CAT BECAME HEAD FORESTER 273 

grand guest. But the old Tom-cat stayed at 
home and cleaned his whiskers and slept. He 
was a lazy one, that cat, and proud. 

The fox was running through the forest, 
looking for game, when she met an old friend, 
a handsome young wolf, and he started to 
make polite speeches to her. But the fox 
would not be delayed. 

“Have you not heard?” she asked, “that the 
great Cat Ivanovitch, who has only one ear, 
has been sent to us from the far Siberian 
forests to be Head-forester over all of us? 
He is a guest in my earth.” 

“No, I had not heard, Lisabeta Ivanovna.” 
said the wolf, “When can I pay my respects 
to his Excellency?” 

“Look you,” said the fox, “Get a sheep, and 
make it ready, and bring it as a greeting to 
him to show that he is welcome and that you 
know how to treat him with respect. Leave 
the sheep near by and hide yourself, for if 
Cat Ivanovitch were to see you before he eats, 
things would be awkward.” 

“Thank you, thank you, Lisabeta Iva¬ 
novna,” said the wolf, and off he went to look 
for the sheep. 

The pretty young fox went on, but idly now 


274 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


and enjoying the air, and presently she met 
Bruin, the bear. 

“ Good-day to you, Lisabeta Ivanovna, ” said 
the bear, “as pretty as ever, I see.” 

“I cannot stop,” said the fox. “Have you 
not heard that the great Cat Ivanovitch has 
been sent from the far Siberian forest to be 
Head-forester over us all? He is a guest in 
my earth.” 

“Is it forbidden to have a look at his Ex¬ 
cellency?” asked the bear. 

“It is forbidden,” said the fox. “Cat 
Ivanovitch will be raging angry if I let any¬ 
one come near him. Presently he will be tak¬ 
ing his food. Get along with you quickly; 
make ready an ox, and bring it by way of wel¬ 
come to him. Leave the meat near by, and 
hide yourself so that the great Cat Ivanovitch 
shall not see you before he eats. If he were to 
see you, things might be awkward.” 

The bear shambled off as fast as he could to 
get an ox. 

And the pretty young fox, after enjoying 
the fresh air, went slowly home to her earth 
and crept in very quietly, so as not to wake 
the great Head-forester, Cat Ivanovitch, who 


THE CAT BECAME HEAD FORESTER 275 

had only one ear and was sleeping in the best 
place. 

Presently the wolf came through the forest 
dragging the sheep. He did not dare go too 
near the fox’s earth, so he stopped well out of 
sight and arranged the sheep so as to seem a 
nice, tasty morsel. Then he stood still, think¬ 
ing what next to do. He heard a noise, and 
there was the bear, struggling along with the 
ox he had killed. 

“ Good-day, brother Michael Ivanovitch,” 
said the wolf. 

“Good-day, brother Levon Ivanovitch,” 
said the bear. 

Then they saw that each had come on the 
same errand, to bring an offering to the great 
Cat Ivanovitch, but they saw also that they 
must hide until he had eaten.” 

“It will be best to climb trees,” said the 
bear. “I shall go up to the top of this fir.” 

“But I can’t climb a tree for the life of me,” 
said the wolf. 

“Crouch down under these bushes then,” 
said the bear, “and I will cover you with dead 
leaves.” 

“May you be rewarded, brother Michael,” 


276 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


said the wolf, and he crouched down under 
the bushes, and the bear covered him up with 
dead leaves, so that only the tip of his nose 
showed. Then the bear climbed slowly up 
into the fir tree, into the very top, and looked 
out to see if the fox and Cat Ivanovitch were 
coming. 

They were coming; oh, yes, they were com¬ 
ing! But what a little one was Cat Ivano¬ 
vitch, the Head-forester with only one ear! 

The cat came on, and arched his back and 
set his fur on end, and threw himself upon 
the fresh meat, tearing it with his teeth and 
claws. And as he tore he purred. And the 
bear listened, and heard for the first time the 
purring of a cat and it seemed to him that 
the Head-forester was saying “ Small, small, 
small—” 

And the bear, Michael Ivanovitch, whis¬ 
pered, “He’s no giant, but what a glutton! 
Why, we couldn’t get through a quarter of 
that, and he finds it not enough. Heaven help 
us if he comes after us!” 

The wolf, Levon Ivanovitch, tried to see but 
could not, as all but his nose was covered up 
with leaves. Little by little he moved his 
head, so as to try and clear the leaves away 


THE CAT BECAME HEAD FORESTER 


277 


from his eyes. Try as he would to be quiet, 
the leaves rustled. The cat listened. 

“I haven’t caught a mouse today,” he 
thought. 

Once more the leaves rustled. 

Cat Ivanovitch leaped through the air and 
dropped on all fours, his claws out, on the nose 
of Levon Ivanovitch. How the wolf yelped! 
The leaves flew like dust, and the wolf ran 
away as fast as his legs would carry him. 

When the wolf leaped up out of the leaves 
it frightened Cat Ivanovitch. He howled and 
ran up the nearest tree, and that was the tree 
where Michael Ivanovitch, the bear, was 
hiding. 

The bear trusted to luck, and jumped from 
the top of the tree. Many were the branches 
he broke as he fell; many were the bumps he 
gave himself when he crashed to the ground. 
He picked himself up and stumbled off, 
groaning. 

The pretty young fox, Lisabeta, sat still and 
cried out, “Run, brother Levon! Quicker on 
your pins, Brother Michael! His Excellency 
is behind you! His Excellency is close be¬ 
hind!” 

Ever since then all the wild beasts have been 


278 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


afraid of the cat, and the cat and the fox live 
merrily together, and eat fresh meat all the 
year round. 

And that is what happened to the old Tom¬ 
cat with one ear, who was put in a bag and 
thrown away in the forest, for the worse 
things look for a cat, the better they are going 
to be. 


THE GOLDEN BIRD 

At the back of the king’s castle was his 
pleasure garden and in the center of the gar¬ 
den was a wonderful tree which bore only 
apples of gold. 

The king had other fruit trees, those which 
bore yellow pears, crimson cherries and 
luscious peaches, but this was the only one 
upon which there hung golden fruit. Each 
day the king counted his golden apples, and 
what was his astonishment one morning to 
discover that one was missing! Something 
must be done about it. The king had three 
sons, and he at once appointed the eldest to 
watch all night in the garden and discover the 
thief. 

But the prince went to sleep. In the morn¬ 
ing a second apple was missing, so the second 
son was commanded to keep vigil for the thief. 
Alas, he too slept and a third apple was 
stolen. 

The youngest prince was looked upon as a 

279 


280 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


rather good for nothing young fellow, but now 
there was nothing to do, since his brothers had 
failed, but for him to take up the watch under 
the tree with its glittering burden in the 
garden. And he kept his eyes wide open, for 
he was awake always for adventure. The clocks 
struck twelve. The prince heard the sound of 
a rushing of unseen wings above the tree. 
Suddenly he saw a great golden bird swoop 
down and peck off an apple before the arrow 
from the prince’s bow had touched it. 

The bird was off as swiftly as it had 
come, but one of its feathers had fallen with 
the arrow. The prince grasped this and took 
it in the morning to the council room of the 
castle where he showed it to the king. 

The king was full of wrath. “One feather 
is of no use to me,” he told the prince. “I 
give you full credit for discovering the thief, 
but bring me the golden bird. Go you to the 
uttermost ends of the earth, and do not appear 
again in my sight until you bring me the 
bird.” 

So this youngest prince of the kingdom set 
off on what seemed an impossible errand. 

This was a country of long distances and 
deep forests in which wild animals lived and 


THE GOLDEN BIRD 


281 


had speech like men. The prince had not 
gone a very great distance when he came upon 
an old red fox sitting beside a woodsy trail as 
if he had been waiting for him to come along. 
The prince knew the fox for what his fine 
brush and his thick red coat stood, a master 
trickster, and he pointed his gun at him. But 
the fox bowed low and begged him not to shoot. 

“I happened to know that you are in need of 
advice, sir,” said the fox. “You have been 
sent on a search on which many have gone 
and few have been successful, the search for 
the golden bird. It may be that I can help 
you. Keep on through this forest until you 
come out at a high road and there you will find 
two inns, facing each other, one on each side of 
the highway. One of these inns will have 
candles shining from every window and you 
will hear pleasant sounds of fiddles and danc¬ 
ing feet and singing voices. This will seem 
the inn for you, but I warn you not to stop 
there. Do not judge by appearances. Stop 
the night at the darker inn.” 

The prince went on, and he found every¬ 
thing that the old fox had told him to be true. 
He came to the high road and there, facing 
each other on opposite sides of the road, were 


282 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


the two inns, one bright with candles and the 
other dark. 

4 ‘Light and fiddles for me!” said the prince 
to himself. “I am weary and lonely. What 
can an old red fox, the most tricky animal of 
the forest, know'?” So the prince entered the 
forbidden shelter. And there he ate and made 
merry and slept, and all remembrance of the 
golden bird passed from him. He was like a 
man who puts on new garments and leaves his 
life behind him with his old coat. 

So the prince lived and grew slothful and 
fat and dull. But one day when he was out in 
the forest gathering fagots for the innkeeper, 
who had made a kitchen boy of him, he saw a 
familiar flash of red fur behind a tree, and 
then a paw tapped his arm. “ Shame on you, 
sir,” said the old red fox. “Will you never 
learn wisdom or listen to the advice of one 
who knows better than you? Are you going 
to continue your search for the golden bird, 
or will you be conquered as so many of your 
fellows have been?” 

The prince gaped and rubbed his dull eyes. 
Then, with the words of the fox, memory came 
to him and he begged the fox to help him. 

“This once, then,” said the fox. “Leave 


THE GOLDEN BIRD 


283 


your pleasant living and go on until you reach 
a great castle standing upon a hill,, before 
which you will find a band of soldiers. You 
will not need to trouble yourself about them, 
for they will be sleeping. Enter the castle 
boldly and make your way through the rooms 
until you reach one in which there is a golden 
bird hanging in a cage of brown rushes. Close 
by will stand a gold cage of state, but I warn 
you against taking the golden bird out of the 
cage of rushes, however much the gold cage 
seems to you to become it.” 

With this, the fox pointed the way and the 
prince set out. 

Again, it all came to pass as the fox had 
said. There was a great castle on a high hill, 
and there were soldiers in great number, but 
snoring in the courtyard. Traversing many 
rooms, the prince came to the one in which 
the golden bird, like the light of the sun at 
midday, hung in a mean cage of brown rushes. 
And close by stood the golden cage which be¬ 
fitted it. 

“The advice of an old red fox!” scoffed the 
prince, “Of what value is it?” and he opened 
the door of the rush cage and put the golden 
bird in the glittering cage. 


284 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


There was a cry of terror from the bird and 
suddenly the room was full to crowding with 
armed soldiers. They seized the prince and 
put him in irons. They brought him before 
the lord of that castle, and it did not avail him 
anything that he confessed, and begged par¬ 
don, and explained that he was upon his 
father’s business. The lord of the castle set 
him a task. 

“There is a golden horse far from here,” 
he told the prince, “on which I have had my 
eye for some time. Bring him to me and I 
will give you the golden bird as a reward. 
Bail, and I will have your head!” 

The prince started oif sadly. But he sud¬ 
denly felt the fox’s tail brushing his legs. 
“You do not deserve my help. Will you never 
learn wisdom?” asked the fox. “But seat 
yourself upon my brush and I will take you to 
the stable in which stands this golden horse.” 

The prince, indeed in need of help, seated 
himself on the fox’s tail. Away they flew 
over hill and valley, over stock and stone until 
they had reached a stable in a woods, the yard 
of which was full of sleeping guards. 

“I can go no farther,” said the fox, “take 
your way boldly among these snoring men, for 


THE GOLDEN BIRD 


285 


they will not harm yon. Go into the stable 
and saddle and bridle the horse. But be sure 
that you put on a plain leather harness, for 
that will be the best for the journey home.” 

The prince looked back to thank the fox, 
but he was gone. He took his way safely into 
the stable and there, like the steeds of the 
morning which bring the sun to the earth, 
stood a golden horse. His mane was flowing 
brass. His eyes were topaz. His golden 
hoofs struck fire. And beside his stall hung 
two sets of harness, a common leather one, and 
one with a bridle of jewels and trappings of 
cloth of gold. 

“I am not such a dullard,.” thought the 
prince, “as not to know which harness belongs 
on so rare a steed,” and with that he led out 
the golden horse and put upon him the glit¬ 
tering trappings. 

The horse stamped and neighed loudly. The 
men in the yard awoke and crowded into the 
stables. The luckless prince was carried be¬ 
fore the king to whom the horse belonged and 
was condemned to death. “You may live only 
on condition that you level the mountain that 
hides from my view the forest,” this king told 
the prince. That seemed an impossible feat, 


286 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


but the prince took his life in his hands and 
went to work the next day. 

Day in and day out, and from one season to 
the next, he dug. Always the mountain 
seemed unchanged although he was making a 
little progress. He persevered, and after much 
labor he came suddenly upon the old fox, who 
looked mockingly at him from his den in 
the side of the mountain. “'You do not de¬ 
serve help,” said the fox once more, “but 
you are learning, and you are persevering. 
Once more I will help you, and move the 
mountain.” 

The mountain was gone, as if it had dropped 
into the earth! The prince rubbed his eyes, 
but it was no dream. The mountain was 
levelled and beyond it one could see the forest 
in all its green and brown splendor. He has¬ 
tened to the king and for a reward was given 
the golden horse. The prince mounted the 
golden horse and hastened over hill and dale, 
over stock and stone until he reached the lord 
of that castle, who had promised him the 
golden bird in return for the golden horse. 
He received the golden bird and was just about 
to set out for home when he heard a scratching 
in the twigs at his feet in the forest. 


THE GOLDEN BIRD 


287 


The old red fox it was, cringing and whin¬ 
ing, and reminding the prince how much he 
owed him. 

“What will you give me for a reward, little 
master?” asked the fox. 

“Well, what would you like; the half of our 
kingdom?” asked the prince. 

“Little master,” begged the fox, “I desire 
that you should slay me, and after you have 
slain me I beg that you cut off my hands and 
my feet.” 

The prince thought this a strange request. 
He was about to go on, but the fox followed 
him. “Now you have your heart’s desire,” 
said the fox, “everything that you wished for 
is yours and you will come into the kingdom, 
because that golden bird is worth more than 
twenty kingdoms put together. But my mis¬ 
fortunes are endless. It lies with you to free 
me, for only by laying aside my brush and my 
red coat, can I be born again. I pray of you 
slay me, and after you have slain me cut off 
my hands and my feet. ’ ’ 

Now, the prince understood that the fox was 
serious in his request. He shot an arrow 
straight into the fox’s heart, and then he cut 
off the fox’s hands and his feet. 


288 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


And the fox stood before tbe prince, a man 
like himself. And now there was nothing 
lacking in their happiness, so long as they 
lived. 


THE PRINCE WHO WAS AFRAID 


Once upon a time, in the Land of Make- 
Believe, there was a little prince who was 
afraid. He was afraid of mice and he was 
afraid of cats. He was afraid of cows and he 
was afraid of dogs. He was afraid of the 
highway and also of the woods. He was 
afraid, in fine, of all animals and the time had 
come for him to make a journey into the land 
of his grandfather, who would give this prince 
his family crown. 

It was a very beautiful crown made of white 
gold, and the jewels of it were red rubies and 
blue sapphires set in clusters and rows. The 
glory of the crown shone for the courage of 
the country, and here was a prince of a very 
old family of that country who would be 
afraid to go and get it. 

The prince’s grandfather lived on the other 
side of some deep woods. How, the court 
asked itself, could a little prince who was such 
a coward about the forest cross it ? And how, 
unless he found courage, would he ever be able 
to wear a crown creditably? 

289 


290 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


But one day lie started out, armed with his 
father’s sword and with his mother’s picture 
hung in a locket around his neck. He car¬ 
ried a roll of bandages and a large bottle of 
arnica and a lot of telegraph blanks for send¬ 
ing back a message if he were able. And he 
wore a large helmet and carried a shield. He 
looked like a walking peddler when he set out 
and when he came to the edge of the woods he 
met there a wise woman, who enquired of him 
why he was so fully armed. 

“I am dreadfully afraid of the animals that 
live in this forest,” he told her. “I must go 
through it in order to get to my grandfather 
on the other side and bring back my crown.” 

The wise woman, who was no taller than a 
little wrinkled tree stump, looked up at the 
prince and smiled, and her smile reminded 
him of his mother’s. 

“Well,” she said, “this is a forest, and I 
don’t deny that there may be animals, but 
pluck up courage. Leave some of your sense¬ 
less trappings with me, and come close so that 
I may give you a magic word for a charm when 
you meet danger on your way. Lean low 
while I whisper it to you.” 


THE PRINCE WHO WAS AFRAID 


291 


So the prince leaned down to the wise 
woman and she repeated the magic word sev¬ 
eral times so that he would surely remember. 
Then he left his telegraph blanks and the ar¬ 
nica and the bandages and his shield and hel¬ 
met behind, for they were heavy and clumsy, 
and he went boldly into the deep, dark woods. 

He had not gone very far when he heard a 
scampering and scurrying down among the 
dried roots and leaves of his path. He saw 
long tails and bright eyes, and heard shrill 
little piping voices. 

“Mice!” said the prince, “and I am afraid 
of mice! ’ ’ but he raised his head high and said 
the magic word the wise woman had given 
him, and suddenly a wonder happened. 
There they were, the mice, close to him. They 
were chocolate mice, begging the prince to nib¬ 
ble them. Some of them, even, were chocolate 
cream mice! 

So the prince feasted on the chocolate mice 
and then he went on through the woods. But 
he had not gone very far when he heard a 
loud purring and he saw two large green eyes 
looking out at him from the path. 

“A cat!” exclaimed the prince, “and I am 


292 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


afraid of cats.” However, he stood straight 
•up as the cat came purring and rubbing her¬ 
self toward him, and just as they met he re¬ 
peated the word in a loud, clear voice. Ah, 
here was another wonder for the prince. This 
was a cat of gingerbread. She was crisp and 
brown and well baked. She had currant eyes 
and spots of sugar on her back, and she offered 
herself for lunch to the prince. She was in¬ 
deed an obliging cat! 

So the prince lunched on the gingerbread 
cat and went on through the woods. It was 
now well on toward afternoon and he was be¬ 
ginning to feel quite brave. But he suddenly 
heard a mighty grunting from the path be¬ 
yond. 

“I am afraid that is a wild pig!” said the 
prince to himself, ‘ 4 a very wild pig! ’ ’ He was 
right, for as the pig came in sight he saw that 
it was a dark red pig, not a pink one such as 
lives in the barnyard. But the prince ad¬ 
vanced bravely toward it, repeating the magic 
charm, and when he came close to it, the wild 
pig became a pig, and then a piggy y and last 
of all a nice little rubber pig with a whistle 
for company. Surely there could not have 
been a more harmless one! 


THE PRINCE WHO WAS AFRAID 293 

And now the prince’s journey was almost 
over and it was nearing supper time. The 
prince was not in the least afraid, so useful 
had he found the wise woman’s charm. He 
blew the rubber pig’s whistle and he himself 
whistled as he hurried on until suddenly the 
bushes parted, and out of them stretched the 
head of a great brindle creature with horns. 

“Here comes a cow,” exclaimed the prince, 
“and I know I am afraid of cows.” But they 
met safely, the prince saying his charm in a 
loud, clear voice and as they passed, he saw 
a sign hung around the cow’s neck. “Ice¬ 
cream and Apple-Tart Annie” the sign said. 
A very quiet and peaceful cow that! 

By supper time the little prince reached his 
grandfather’s kingdom and received great 
praise for his courage and was given the 
crown. It was a red, white and blue crown, 
just as he had been told, for courage, so every¬ 
thing was all right and he started home the 
next day wearing it. 

But the magic word? Oh, yes, you shall 
have it too, if you will promise to use it. 

“I will not be afraid!” was the charm that 
turned the forest of fears into a forest of 
friends. 














OF FAIRY CATS 



THE WHITE CAT 


Once upon a time there was a King who 
felt that he was growing old, in which case he 
would have to choose between his three sons 
as to which was the best able to wear his 
crown. And the King found this a difficult 
matter, for they were all brave, noble princes. 
So at last he called the three together in the 
council room and made them a strange offer. 

“There is coming a time, my dear sons,” 
said the old King, “when I shall need to be re¬ 
lieved of the affairs of state and at that time 
I do not want to be left without some kind of 
diversion. I want, in fine, a dog for my de¬ 
clining days. I want the most perfect little 
dog in the world. Whichever one of you 
brings me that dog shall rule over the kingdom 
in my stead.” 

The young princes were aghast. But they 
were accustomed to obeying their father and 
set out off at once on the search for the little 
dog, going in three different directions, and 

297 


298 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


vowing to meet at the castle in a year’s time, 
the limit set by the King. So they set out, 
but it is the youngest prince whom we will fol¬ 
low in his travels. 

He hurried from village to village buying 
a poodle only to exchange it for a spaniel and 
then to discard the spaniel. He came at last, 
after a long time, to a deep, strange wood. A 
sudden storm came up and the prince saw in 
the distance a faint, small light. He pushed 
his way toward it, and suddenly he stood at the 
door of a white marble palace. The door it¬ 
self was of yellow topaz, studded with emer¬ 
alds which shone like eyes in the darkness. 
The door opened for the prince and he found 
himself in a reception room whose walls were 
of fine painted china and hung with tapestries 
on which were embroidered in silver, small 
scampering mice. At one end of the room 
hung a mouse’s head of silver with diamond 
eyes which the prince saw was a bell-rope. 
He pulled it and this door, which was of solid 
gold, opened to him. 

There was no one to welcome him, but the 
prince was amazed to see twelve white hands 
in the air about him, each holding a lighted 


THE WHITE CAT 


299 


torch to guide him. These hands, holding the 
torches, beckoned to the Prince and they led 
him from one room to another of the palace, 
each more richly furnished than the last, until 
he came to one with a warm, cozy fireplace, in 
front of which the hands set a comfortable 
chair for the prince. They took away his wet 
clothes and furnished him with dry linen and 
a gold basin in which to bathe. They gave 
him a velvet suit and when he was rested and 
dressed, the hands conducted him to a dining 
hall where the table was set with silver and 
gold and crystal, with roses in the center. 
But there were plates at the table for two. 

As he wondered about this, the prince saw 
the door open and a strange sight met his eyes. 
He saw a small, graceful and beautiful crea¬ 
ture coming to dine with him. She was 
covered with a thick lace veil. She was not 
more than a foot high, and on either side of 
her walked a cat dressed in black. Following, 
came a long line of cats, all dressed in velvet 
cloaks and trains and carrying, some of them, 
full mouse-traps, and others rat-traps in 
which were rats. The small creature came 
toward the prince, drew back her veil, and he 


300 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


beheld a cat, a beautiful White Cat, softer, 
and with sadder blue eyes than he had ever 
seen in his life. She spoke to him, 

“Welcome to my palace, Prince,’’ said the 
White Cat. “Let us sit down and sup.” 

Then the mysterious hands began placing 
food before the two, a pie of fat pigeons for 
the prince and a patty made of mice for the 
White Cat. And when the prince hesitated 
before cutting into his steaming pastry, the 
White Cat seemed to understand his thought 
and assured him that there were no mice in it. 

They enjoyed the meal, the White Cat ask¬ 
ing the prince politely about his journey, and 
when they had finished, the hands led the 
prince to a luxurious bed chamber for the 
night. There he slept until a sound of mewing 
in the courtyard awoke him. He dressed and 
looked out of the window. How wonderful! 
A hunt was being arranged for his pleasure. 
More than five hundred cats were assembled 
in their hunting jackets, awaiting him, and 
the White Cat, wearing a dragoon’s cap and 
mounted on a prancing monkey, led the others. 
She had provided a wooden horse for the 
prince, and off they rode on the wings of the 
wind, the cats going faster than rabbits and 


THE WHITE CAT 


301 


following the call of the White Cat’s horn 
that was always ahead of them. Up and 
down trees went the cats, catching birds, then 
on over the hills and hollows in their chase of 
hares and squirrels. Whatever they caught 
they laid at the feet of the White Cat and the 
Prince. And he found that his wooden horse 
was the swiftest steed he had ever ridden to 
the hounds. 

That night he and the White Cat supped 
again together on the sweetest, most rare 
viands. Again the hands led him to his bed 
chamber. Each day for a long time there was 
something planned for his pleasure, but he 
was in constant terror lest his brothers reach 
home first with the prize dog. At last the 
prince told his trouble to the White Cat. 

“I am lost, dear Cat,” said the Prince. “I 
shall never be able to find a dog small enough 
to suit my father, the King.” 

“Never fear,” said the White Cat. “Carry 
home this acorn with you.” 

She had his wooden horse brought to the 
door and she put in his hands a hollow acorn, 
holding it to his ear. A small bark could be 
heard from inside the acorn! 

It was the end of the year’s search and the 


302 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


Prince galloping home on his wooden horse 
met his brothers in the throne room. They 
had brought the smallest dogs they had been 
able to find and to enhance the dogs’ beauty 
had wrapped them in silks and satins. But 
their younger brother opened his acorn and 
out jumped a tiny, tiny dog. It was a perfect 
little dog with silky curling hair, but it could 
jump nimbly through the King’s signet ring. 
There could be no doubt that this was the best 
little dog in the world. 

But the King, during the absence of his 
sons, had been feeling very well and young 
himself. He had decided that he did not wish, 
just yet, to give up his kingdom and his crown. 
So he said that the dog was welcome, but not 
exactly what he needed. What he must have, 
in order to exchange his crown for it, was a 
length of fine cambric, such fine cambric that 
it might be drawn easily through the eye of a 
needle. They might search a year, said the 
King, for this wonderful fabric, but without 
it not one of the princes might hope to inherit 
his father’s crown. 

Once more, we will go with the youngest of 
the three brothers who mounted his wooden 
horse and galloped as fast as its hoofs would 


THE WHITE CAT 


303 


carry him back to the palace of the White Oat. 
She seemed to be expecting him. At any rate 
she was very glad to see him, provided him 
with a banquet at once, and when the prince 
told her his new trouble, the White Cat said, 

“Be of good courage, dear Prince. I have 
cats in my employ who will be able to spin the 
cambric of the fineness that you need.” 

So at the end of a year of delightful enter¬ 
tainment and sport in her palace, the White 
Cat gave the Prince—not the fabric he had 
been expecting—but a walnut. She provided 
him with a coach whose sides of gold were 
studded with diamonds. Twelve white horses 
drew it and a troop of mounted horsemen rode 
at his side, but the prince looked with wonder 
at the small nut in his hand until he reached 
home. 

There were his brothers, each with the finest 
cambric ever spun by hands, but neither length 
could be pulled through a needle’s eye. So 
the youngest Prince opened his walnut, but 
there was nothing inside it but a filbert. Now 
the whole court was laughing at him, for his 
brothers had brought home their cambric, each 
in a jeweled casket. But the prince cracked 
the filbert. He was not going to lose faith in 


304 


IN THE ANIMAL EWORLD 


his friend, the White Cat. And inside the 
filbert was a cherry stone! 

How his brothers laughed at him! A 
cherry stone in exchange for a kingdom! 
The prince was about to throw it away in 
disgust, but first he cracked it. Out of 
the cherry stone he took a grain of wheat. 
He opened the grain of wheat and took out 
a millet-seed. This was also only a joke, 
apparently. 

“Have you then deceived me, dear White 
Cat!” the Prince said to himself, but just as 
he had this thought he felt a sharp prick on 
his arm. It was exactly as if the White Cat 
had scratched him in impatience at his lack 
of faith in her. 

The Prince carefully split open the millet- 
seed, and out of it he drew forth a piece of 
fine cambric that was a hundred yards long 
and so delicate that it was easily threaded into 
the eye of a needle. 

The court was amazed. The King declared 
that his crown should be given to his youngest 
son, but he said, 

“You will need a Queen to help you in your 
management of affairs. And your Queen 
must be the most beautiful creature in the 


THE WHITE CAT 


305 


world. Her skin must be as soft as silk and 
as white as milk. Her eyes must be as blue 
as a lake when the sky is reflected in it. Her 
footsteps must be soft and gentle, and she 
must come of an honored and old family. Go 
and search for this Queen. When you return 
with her, the kingdom shall be yours!” 

This seemed to the Prince an impossible 
search. He was discouraged, but he entered 
his coach and returned to the palace of the 
White Cat.” I would live out my days with 
her,” he thought to himself, “for nowhere 
have I found such comfort as in her domain.” 

And the Prince told the White Cat that 
never again would he be able, in spite of all 
her help, to see his home again. 

But the White Cat appeared before him in 
her best silken robes and her long lace veil and 
she gave him a sharp sword with a jeweled 
hilt. 

“Cut off my head and my tail!” she com¬ 
manded him. 

“I will die first!” said the Prince. “I love 
you.” 

“Then prove your love by doing my will,” 
said the White Cat. 

So the Prince cut off the White Cat’s head 


306 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


and her tail, and there suddenly stood before 
him a beautiful Queen. 

Her skin was as soft as silk and as white 
as milk. Her eyes were as blue as a lake when 
it reflects the sky. Her footsteps were soft 
and her manners were gentle, and she be¬ 
longed to an old and honored family, being 
a princess disguised as the White Cat. 

So the Prince married her and they ruled 
long and well over his father’s kingdom, for 
this is the very old, once-upon-a-time story 
which tells us that the White Cat is one of 
the most beautiful and comfortable creatures 
in the world. 


PUSS IN BOOTS 


There was hardly anyone so important in 
connection with the mill as he, sleek, fat Puss. 
So when it came time for the miller to die 
and he called his three sons to his bedside to 
will them his property, Puss came into that 
bargain. 

The eldest son received the mill, because he 
had learned how to run it. The second son 
was given the miller’s donkey, who was a 
strong, willing beast for carrying loads to 
market. And the youngest son received, what 
do you suppose, from his father? Why, he 
was given Puss! 

“Dear me!” the youngest son exclaimed. 
“I don’t think much of my legacy, I must say 
—nothing but a pussy cat! The only thing I 
have ever known her to do was to watch the 
mill for mice. Now I shall surely starve.” 

But just then something soft touched the 
youth on his hand and he heard a gentle purr. 
Looking down he saw Puss and he stroked her 
furry back. 


307 


308 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“At any rate, old Puss,” he said, “you are 
an old friend and we shall be obliged to try 
our fortunes together.” 

“Meow!” said Puss, “that we will.” This 
was odd! She was using human speech. 
“Remember,” went on Puss, “to he kind to 
me. Kindness to an animal is sure to bring 
its own reward. I am small, and have always 
had to walk on four legs, hut what hurts you 
hurts me as well. Kow, my dear friend, go 
you and buy me a pair of small hunter’s boots 
that will come up as far as my knees. Stones 
and prickles always hurt my feet. Leave 
everything else to me, and we will start out to 
seek our fortunes.” 

It happened that the miller’s son had just 
enough money left in his wallet for this 
errand. He went to town and had a shoe¬ 
maker make a pair of little hunting boots, red 
and long enough to reach to Puss’ knees. 
Puss drew on the boots with much gratitude 
and pride and stood up on his feet in them. 
The lad shouldered his pack and off the 
two went, down the highroad to seek their 
fortunes. 

They traveled for a day and a night and 
then for another day and by that time their 


PUSS IN BOOTS 


309 


food had given out. The miller’s son lay 
down on the edge of a wood exhausted and 
went to sleep. While he slept, Puss in Boots 
crept into the deep woods carrying their 
empty sack which he spread out upon the 
ground. He shook a little bran which he had 
saved for an emergency under the sack and 
then hid himself behind a tree. 

When the moon had risen, out from their 
burrows came some wild hares. They sniffed 
the bran and then scampered beneath the sack 
to eat it. Out jumped Puss in Boots and 
gathering together the comers of the sack, 
caught the rabbits which he carried in triumph 
to his master for their supper. 

So Puss in Boots had saved the day once, 
and it was not long before he proved his worth 
a second time. 

The two journeyed on and perhaps a dis¬ 
tance of twenty miles beyond the woods where 
he had caught the hares they came to a river, 
and beyond the river stood the castle of a king. 
Pair and white and forbidding stood this 
castle, and the miller’s son would have turned 
back, but Puss in Boots would have none of 
such cowardice. He caught a brace of fine 
fat hares, put them in his sack, shouldered the 


310 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


sack and trotted across the drawbridge to 
make a call upon the king. 

He rang the bell, and how the servants who 
answered it did stare to find a cat in a pair 
of small red hunting boots, with an offering of 
game on his back, standing at the door! 

“Get out!” they cried, thinking that he was 
a creature bewitched. 

“Meow! Have a care how you speak to 
me!” said Puss in Boots. “My master, the 
Lord of Carabas, waits outside. He had 
unusual luck at his hunting to-day, and the 
best of his hares are here as a present for 
your king.” 

Of course this was very far from the truth, 
but Puss in Boots was only a puss after all 
and had not learned the difference between 
the truth and a falsehood. And the servants, 
being an ignorant lot, were at once humbled 
at the name of his master, the great Lord of 
Carabas. It sounded well to them. So they 
allowed Puss in Boots to enter and go into 
the very throne room with his sack of game 
for the king. 

So it went on safely and merrily. Every 
night Puss bagged rabbits, and every day he 
took them as a gift from the Lord of Carabas, 


PUSS IN BOOTS 


311 


to the king, until the king and all the court 
were sure that they had known and heard of 
for years this great nobleman who waited at 
their gates. But the Miller’s son, fed each 
day by Puss, grew each day more ragged. 
His clothes, not to be boasted of in the begin¬ 
ning, were hanging in tatters and shreds. 

“Suppose the king asks for me?” he said 
to Puss in Boots. 

“He does often ask,” replied Puss, “and I 
fear that even today he rides out to meet you 
and bring you to the court. But jump in the 
river and have a swim, leaving your poor 
clothes upon the bank. I have thought of a 
way out of our dilemma.” 

Puss in Boots had not been a second too 
soon with his advice. Just as his master 
took refuge in the water there was a great 
crash of trumpets and a clash of swords. 
Over the drawbridge from the castle came the 
coach with the king inside surrounded by his 
retinue. 

Puss in Boots stood in front of them making 
a loud caterwaul. “Meow! You are just in 
time. Help, help!” he cried. “My master, 
the renowned and noble Lord of Carabas, 
drowns and it is well known that I can not 


312 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


swim to save him. Thieves but a moment ago 
passed by and stripped him of his jewels and 
even of his clothes, leaving their ragged gar¬ 
ments on the bank. They threw my lord 
into the river. Save the Lord of Caabas!’’ 

Of course this was very wrong, but Puss in 
Boots was only a cat after all. And the King 
and his train were dull enough to be taken in 
by the story. They saved the miller’s son and 
hurried him home to the castle where he was 
given suits of shining silk, very gorgeous to 
the eye, and lace ruffles and velvet cloaks with 
buttons made of gold and set with jewels. 

“Stay for dinner,-’ urged the king, “and 
then, fed and clothed, the Lord of Carabas 
shall be driven home in state.” 

Puss in Boots scratched his ear. Here was 
a problem. Their humble cottage behind the 
mill was hardly the home that would be ex¬ 
pected of the lord he had made of his master. 
Puss dropped the chicken bone he was enjoy¬ 
ing and ran out of the castle, over the bridge 
and up the high road. 

“Make way! Stop your work! Shout for 
my lord, the high and mighty Lord of Cara¬ 
bas, who will shortly ride by!” Puss called as 
he ran. And the sight of a cat in a pair of 


PUSS IN BOOTS 


313 


small red hunting boots, walking upright, so 
astounded the men in the fields along the road 
that they dropped their flails and their sickles, 
and they shouted for the Lord of Carabas 
when he was driven along in an hour. 

On went Puss in Boots, and he did not stop 
until he came to the castle of an ogre, one of 
the largest and hungriest and most important 
ogres of all the country round about. Puss 
in Boots, bowing and scraping, went up to 
where the ogre stood so huge and terrifying 
in his front door. 

‘ 4 They tell me, sir,” said Puss in a small, 
weak voice, “that you are so clever that you 
can change yourself into any shape you wish, 
at will. I came to see if you would do 
me the honor of demonstrating this wonderful 
power.” 

Now the ogre, although a large man, was 
small so far as his vanity was concerned. He 
was flattered by Puss. “You have heard 
aright, little cat,” he said. “I shall be glad 
to change myself into whatever form you 
wish.” 

“A lion then,” begged the cat, “providing 
you will do me no harm.” 

On the instant a roaring lion pawed the 


314 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


ground in front of Puss in Boots, who pre¬ 
tended to be dreadfully frightened. 

“ Could you take on the body of a mouse V 9 
asked Puss. 

There, right under his paw, was a little 
gray mouse. So Puss in Boots ate the ogre 
then and there and, of course, he had a castle 
now for his master, the Lord of Carabas. 

When the king’s train came, there was the 
cat standing in the door of a very fine castle 
to welcome his master. It was too much. 
The miller’s son was a good deal of a simple¬ 
ton—but he was an honest lad. 

“ Forgive this cat. He acts the seer 
Because he loved us so. 

The difference ’twixt a lie and truth, 

A cat will never know” 

said the youth to the king. 

Then he explained how he was nothing but 
the youngest son of a poor miller, but that he 
loved Puss and the cat loved him. 

“Which makes you a man of sorts in your 
own right,” exclaimed the king, who had 
grown very fond of Puss in Boots. So he took 
his sword from its sheath and then and there 


PUSS IN BOOTS 


315 


knighted the miller’s son and gave him a small 
kingdom of his own, with a special barn full 
of fat mice for Puss, and a special shoemaker 
to make Puss more boots when his small red 
ones would be worn out trotting on his er¬ 
rands for others. 


PINOCCHIO’S ADVENTURE WITH 
THE CAT 


Pinocchio, the odd little wooden puppet 
with such a long nose and jointed arms and 
legs, had run away from his father, a very 
kind old wood carver who had made hm. And 
he had not gone very far along the road when 
he met two travelers, a fox and a cat. The 
fox, who was lame, walked leaning on the cat, 
and the cat, who appeared to be blind, was be¬ 
ing guided by the fox. 

“Good day, Pinocchio,” said the fox po¬ 
litely. 

“How do you come to know my namel” 
asked the puppet. 

“We have seen your Papa at the door of his 
shop, looking for you!” the fox replied. 

“Poor Papa!” said Pinocchio, feeling a 
slight remorse. “But I shall go home soon 
now. I have earned five gold pieces and with 
them I intend to buy my Papa a new coat 
made of gold and silver with diamond buttons, 
310 


PINOCCHIO’S ADVENTURE WITH A CAT 317 

and if there is any of the gold left, a spelling 
book for myself. ” 

The cat began to laugh but she concealed it 
as she combed her whiskers with her fore¬ 
paws. “Learning is of very little use,” she 
said. 

“Look at me!” said the fox, “through my 
foolish passion for study I have lost a leg.” 

“Look at me!” said the cat, “through my 
foolish passion for study I have lost the sight 
of both my eyes.” 

At that moment a white blackbird, who was 
perched on the hedge by the side of the road, 
began his usual song and said; 

“Pinocchio, don’t listen to the advice of 
bad companions. If you do you will repent 
it!” 

Poor blackbird! The cat, with a great leap, 
sprang upon him and without giving him time 
to say O, ate him in one mouthful, feathers 
and all. 

“I did that to teach him a lesson,” the cat 
said to Pinocchio. “He will learn another 
time not to meddle in people’s conversation.” 

The cat’s eyes had been open, but having 
swallowed the blackbird and cleaned her 
mouth she closed them and feigned blindness 


318 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


once more. All three then traveled along to¬ 
gether. Presently the fox spoke; 

“Would you like to double your money?” 
he asked the puppet in a sweet tone of voice, 
kind and persuasive. 4 4 Would you like to make 
of your miserable five gold pieces a hundred, 
a thousand, even two thousand?” 

44 I should think so, but how?” 

4 4 The way is easy enough. Instead of re¬ 
turning home to your Papa, you must go with 
us to the Land of the Owls.” 

44 It is this way,” said the cat. 44 You must 
know that in the Land of the Owls there is a 
magic field called by everybody the Field of 
Wonders. In this field you must dig a little 
hole and you put into it, we will say, one gold 
piece. You then cover up the hole with a little 
earth. You must water it with two pails of 
water from the fountain, then sprinkle it with 
two pinches of salt, and when night comes you 
can go quietly to bed. In the meanwhile, dur¬ 
ing the night, the gold piece will sprout and 
flower and when you go to the field in the 
morning, what do you find ? You find a beauti¬ 
ful tree laden with as many gold pieces as a 
fine ear of corn has grains in the month of 
June!” 


PINOCCHIO’S ADVENTURE WITH A CAT 319 

“Oh, how delightful!” cried the little 
wooden puppet. “As soon as ever I have ob¬ 
tained those gold pieces, I will make you a 
present of five hundred each!” 

“We could never accept a present,” said the 
fox. “We work only for the good of others.” 

“Others!” repeated the cat. 

So the three walked, and walked, and 
walked, until, toward evening, they arrived 
very tired at the inn of the Red Craw-fish. 
Having gone in at the fox’s suggestion they 
sat down at a table, but none of them had any 
appetite. 

The cat, who was suffering from indigestion, 
could eat only thirty mullet with tomato sauce 
and four portions of tripe with Parmesan 
cheese; and because she thought the tripe was 
not seasoned enough, she asked three times for 
the butter and grated cheese. 

The fox, also, would rather have picked only 
a little, but as his doctor had ordered him 
a strict diet, he was forced to content himself 
simply with a hare dressed with a sweet and 
sour sauce and garnished lightly with fat 
chickens and early pullets. After the hare he 
sent for a made dish of partridges, rabbits, 
frogs, lizards and other delicacies, but he did 


320 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


not touch anything else. He had such a dis¬ 
like of food, he said, that he could eat hardly 
anything. 

The one who ate the least was Pinocchio. 
He asked for some walnuts and a bit of bread, 
and left everything on his plate. The poor 
hoy had his mind on the Field of Wonders, 
and had no appetite. 

When they had supped, the cat ordered 
rooms and told Pinocchio that, after a little 
rest, they would proceed at midnight to the 
Field of Wonders and no sooner had Pinocchio 
got into bed than he fell asleep at once and 
dreamed. In his dream he was in the middle 
of the field which was full of shrubs covered 
with gold pieces and as they swung in the wind 
they went zin, zin, zin, as if they were calling 
him to come and pick them. It was the host 
of the inn who awoke Pinocchio at midnight. 

“Are my companions ready?” asked the 
puppet. 

“Ready! Why, they left two hours ago. The 
cat said that she had received a message to 
say that her eldest kitten was ill with chil¬ 
blains in his feet.” 

“Did they pay for their supper?” 

“What are you thinking of? They are 


PINOCCHIO’S ADVENTURE WITH A CAT 321 


mucli too well educated to dream of offering 
such an insult to a gentleman like you. They 
will try to meet you at the Field of Wonders 
tomorrow at daybreak.” 

Pinocchio paid one of his gold pieces for 
their supper and then left the inn of the Eed 
Craw-fish. He remembered the warning of 
the white blackbird, but the lure of the field 
was too much for him. He had been told by 
the cat the general direction, so he traveled 
on throughout the night until he reached a 
big oak tree on the edge of a clearing, and he 
fancied that he heard people amongst the 
bushes. He stopped. Two persons, in fact, 
did come out to meet him, the fox and the cat. 

“We shall have to make haste!” said the cat. 
“The Field of Wonders has been bought by a 
gentleman and after tomorrow no one will 
be allowed to bury his money there.” 

“Is this it?” asked the Puppet. 

(< Ko, indeed,’’ the fox told him. 6 ‘The Field 
is about two miles off, but come with us. In 
half an hour you will be there. You can bury 
your money at once, and in a few minutes you 
will collect two thousand, and this evening 
you will return with your pockets full Will 
you come?” 


322 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“Let us go,” said Pinocchio, and they went. 

After having walked half the day they 
reached a town that was called “Trap for 
Blockheads.” As soon as Pinocchio entered 
the town, he saw that the streets were crowded 
with dogs who had lost their coats and who 
were yawning from hunger, shorn sheep trem¬ 
bling with cold, cocks without combs or crests 
who were begging for a grain of Indian corn, 
large butterflies who could no longer fly be¬ 
cause they had sold their beautiful wings, pea¬ 
cocks who had no tails and were ashamed to 
be seen, and pheasants who went scratching 
about in a subdued fashion, mourning for 
their brilliant gold and silver feathers gone 
forever. 

In the midst of this crowd of beggars and 
shame-faced creatures, a lordly carriage would 
pass from time to time, containing a fox, or 
a magpie, or a cat in cloak and boots. 

The three crossed this town and, having 
gone beyond the walls, they came to a solitary 
field which, to look at, was just like any other 
field. 

“We are arrived,” said the fox to 
Pinocchio.” 

“Stoop down,” said the cat, “and dig with 


PINOCCHIO’S ADVENTURE WITH A CAT 323 

your hands a little hole in the ground and put 
all of your gold pieces in it.” 

Pinocchio obeyed. He dug the hole, put 
into it the four gold pieces that he had left, 
and then filled the hole with a little earth. 

“Now, then,” said the two to him, “go to 
the canal close by, fetch a can of water, and 
water the ground where you have sowed your 
money.” 

The puppet went to the canal, and as he had 
no can he took off one of his old shoes, and 
filling it with water he watered the ground 
over the hole. 

He then asked, “Is there anything else to 
be done?” 

“Nothing else,” answered the cat, “we can 
now go away. You can return in about twenty 
minutes, and you will find a shrub already 
pushing through the ground with its branches 
loaded with money.” 

The poor puppet, beside himself with joy, 
thanked the fox and the cat a thousand times, 
and again promised each a beautiful present. 

“We wish for no presents,” answered the 
rascals. “We are as happy as folks out for 
a holiday, having taught you the way to en¬ 
rich yourself.” 


324 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


Thus saying, they took leave of Pinocchio 
and, wishing him a good harvest, went about 
their business. 

Pinocchio retired a distance from the Field 
of Wonders, his heart beating fast, tac, tic, tac, 
like a drawing-room clock when it is really 
going well. He counted the minutes one by 
one, and when he thought that it must be time 
he took the road leading to the spot where 
he expected to find several thousand gold 
pieces on the branches of a tree. As he went, 
he built castles in the air. 

“Suppose,” thought Pinocchio, “that in¬ 
stead of two thousand gold pieces I were to 
find five thousand, and instead of five thou¬ 
sand, possibly a hundred thousand ? Oh, what 
a fine little gentleman I would then become! 
I would buy a beautiful palace, a thousand 
wooden horses and a thousand stables with 
which to amuse myself. I would have a cel¬ 
lar full of currant jelly and sweets, and a 
store-room entirely filled with tarts, plum- 
cakes, macaroons, and biscuits with cream.” 

While the puppet was thinking all this, he 
arrived in the neighborhood of the field, and 
he stopped to find if by chance he could per¬ 
ceive the tree, its branches laden with money; 


PINOCCHIO’S ADVENTURE WITH A CAT 325 


but be saw nothing. He advanced a few more 
steps—nothing! He entered the field; he went 
right up to the little hole where he had buried 
his gold—nothing! He then became very 
thoughtful and at that moment he heard loud 
laughter close to him. Looking up, Pinocchio 
saw a large parrot perched on a tree, who was 
pruning the few feathers he had left. 

“Why do you laugh ?” Pinocchio asked in 
an angry tone. 

“I am laughing,” said the parrot, “at those 
simpletons who believe all the things that are 
told them, and who allow themselves to be en¬ 
trapped by those who are more cunning than 
they. You must know, little wooden puppet, 
that while you were out of sight, a fox and a 
cat returned to this field. They dug up your 
money and then fled like the wind.” 

Pinocchio remained with his mouth open, 
and not choosing to believe the parrot’s words 
he began with his hands and nails to dig up 
the earth that he had watered. And he dug, 
and dug, and dug, and made such a deep hole 
that a rick of straw might have stood upright 
in it. But the gold pieces were no longer 
there. 




IN COUNCIL 


THE LAWS OF THE FLOCKS AND 
THE HERDS 


THE FIRST LAW 

There shall be no fighting in the family, the 
herd or the flock, at any other time than in 
the mating season; and then only between 
adult males who fight for herd leadership. 

THE SECOND LAW 

The strong members of a flock or herd shall 
not bully or oppress the weak. 

THE THIRD LAW 

Mothers must be held safe from all harm, 
and their young in no way interfered with. 

THE FOURTH LAW 

In union there is strength. In separation 
there is weakness. And the solitary animal 
is in the greatest danger. 

THE FIFTH LAW 

We must obey our herd leaders and parents 

329 


330 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


if the herd and we ourselves are to be 
safe. And this obedience must be quick and 
thorough. 

THE SIXTH LAW 

Of food and land, the weak shall have their 
share. 

THE SEVENTH LAW 

Man is the enemy of all the wild creatures 
and the instant a man appears the whole herd 
must fly from him, fast and far. 

THE EIGHTH AND LAST LAW 

Whenever in a given spot all men cease to 
kill us, there may we accept sanctuary and 
dwell in peace. 


THE WHITE ELEPHANT 


Thebe have been stories of a horse who was 
born with wings, and of that other horse who 
had eight hoofs. There is also a story told 
of another creature of burdens, the mighty 
elephant, of one who was born in the land of 
Hindustani white. 

Many of the travelers of the desert and the 
priests making their pilgrimages from one 
shrine to another along the almost trackless 
ways of the jungle and forest had seen this 
elephant. His skin was of the whiteness of 
milk and as soft as the finest woven piece of 
silken fabric. His eyes shone like two dia¬ 
monds, his trunk was a pillar of silver and 
his mouth had the rich red color of the pome¬ 
granate. The workers in lacquer could not 
burnish their woods like the polished surface 
of the white elephant’s feet. Seeing him ap¬ 
proach, slowly and with great majesty through 
the green lanes of the forest, one was reminded 
of the grandeur of a snow-capped mountain, 

331 


332 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


for the white elephant was lofty and beautiful 
and, it was whispered, ageless. 

He was the king of many thousand grey 
elephants who roamed the untraveled roads 
of India, who toiled for their masters in the 
rice lands, or who walked in the processions of 
the lords of India. Seldom did men see him, 
but his coming had been foretold among the 
beasts and they bowed down before the white 
elephant in the darkness of the night when 
no man walked in the forest, and his silver 
trunk raised to command was their sceptre 
of royalty. 

The tribe of the elephants had its good and 
its bad members, its law-abiding ones and 
those who scorned authority. There were ele¬ 
phants who roamed the land in wild, stam¬ 
peding bands, without thought for the men 
they trampled under their great feet, or the law 
of their white king that the hordes of jungle 
elephants must not enter the towns. Because 
these hordes of wild creatures, bellowing, tear¬ 
ing their way through the brush to the villages, 
would not heed his command, the white ele¬ 
phant decided to do penance for their wick¬ 
edness. Their sin was like a dark cloud 
covering the brilliance of the sun. The white 


THE WHITE ELEPHANT 


333 


elephant left his thousands of subjects and 
went into the deep places of the forest to fast 
and pray to the gods of the wild for changed 
hearts among his subjects. And it is said that 
wherever he set his mighty feet the flowers 
bloomed in greater profusion, and the pillar 
of his trunk touching the trees caused vines 
to come forth and blossom and bear fruit. 
While the light of his eyes was so brilliant 
that it put to flight the lions and the panthers 
who lay in wait to spring upon the elephants 
and tear their flesh. 

In those days there came a poor forester 
who was hunting with his axe for those rare 
woods of the forest which were in demand at 
the bazaars by the furniture makers. He 
wished bamboo, mahogany, both brown and of 
rose color, ebony, and white wood which can be 
polished to the lustre of silver. One tree 
after another this forester scorned, thinking 
to find a more valuable wood farther on, until 
he was lost. Upon all sides this man was shut 
in by the silent, impenetrable wall of the for¬ 
est. He cried aloud, but no man answered 
him. 

No man, but suddenly this forester heard 
a sound as mellow and clear as that of a 


334 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


trumpet answering his cry, and he saw in the 
path ahead of him the white elephant whose 
welcoming bellow it had been. The forester 
knelt down in fear, but the elephant took him 
gently in his trunk and set him on his back. 
Then he carried this lost man to his own camp 
in the forest where fruits grew and there was 
a stream of clear water. In the day he kept 
the insects and wild beasts from troubling his 
guest and at night he kept the same watch over 
him. The forester lived with the white ele¬ 
phant until he was rested and fed, when the 
elephant took him to the beginning of a path 
that led to the town of Benares. He carried 
the man all that way, out of the forest and 
down a mountain side and across the wide 
valleys where grain stood high and rich. He 
asked nothing in return save that this forester 
would not tell of his experience, for the white 
elephant wished to be left alone to do penance 
for his subjects. 

Well, this man promised, and he came to 
the bazaar of Benares. There were the rug- 
makers, their looms of many colored threads 
set up for all to see. There were the workers 
in metal who made carved vases and pots, the 
workers with precious stones and the workers 


THE WHITE ELEPHANT 


335 


in ivory. Ah, the men who cunningly carved 
bits of ivory into exquisite ornaments and the 
handles for daggers and keys for musical in¬ 
struments! The forester approached one of 
these. “Would you like some bits of the 
whitest tusks in India for your work?” he 
asked. “Tusks from a live elephant?” 

There was a clamor in the bazaar. The 
forester was surrounded by the ivory mer¬ 
chants and offered a fortune for these tusks. 
Ivory from a living elephant could not be had. 
He, however, promised it. And he followed 
the spoor of the white elephant back the long 
way to the forest where he was hidden, and he 
begged the white elephant to give him a part 
of each of his tusks, because he was starving 
and could sell them for bread for himself and 
for his children. 

The white elephant kneeled down and of¬ 
fered his great ivory tusks for charity’s sake. 
The ungrateful forester sawed them off as 
close to the flesh as he dared, and took them 
back to Benares. Never had such ivory been 
seen there, so pure, so perfect. Much gold 
was paid the man for the tusks, but he wasted 
it playing games of chance, for he had no 
family. In a month’s time he was again pen- 


336 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


niless and again he made the journey to the 
land of the white elephant. 

He said that he had given his gold for the 
poor. Now he begged the white elephant for 
the roots of his tusks, and the elephant once 
more kneeled down and allowed this wicked 
man to tear the last hits of ivory from his 
bleeding flesh. He made no sound at the pain 
and the man was about to return to Benares 
with his loot, when a strange thing happened. 

One of the spirits of the trees had seen this 
sin which man had done to the king of the 
elephants. Word of it was sent among the 
roots and branches of many trees and there 
was a pulling and a struggle among them to 
stretch out and protect the white elephant. 
They tore a deep fissure in the earth, in which 
the forester disappeared. After this there 
came a sound as of a mighty tempest blowing 
from the sea to the land, breaking ships and 
carrying villages in its wake. But it was not 
a tempest. It was the bellowing and the foot¬ 
steps of eighty thousand elephants, all the 
elephants who lived in India, come to protect 
their king, the White One, who had now no 
tusks with which to defend himself. 

It is said that at that time the elephants for- 


THE WHITE ELEPHANT 


337 


sook their stampeding and lived only to help 
carry out the commands of the white elephant. 
The story tells that he had, by his sacrifice, 
dissipated the cloud between his people and 
the sun. He, himself, lived many hundreds 
of years in happiness until he was called to 
fare forth according to his deeds, as do all 
beasts and all men. 


THE JUDGMENT OP THE FOX 


There was a peasant, in the olden days in 
Russia, living in his hut on the edge of the 
forest. He had a kind heart and one day, 
when a great gray wolf ran out of the forest 
toward him pursued by hunters, what did this 
peasant do hut throw out a big sack in which 
the wolf crawled and hid himself safely until 
the hunters had passed by. 

There he lay, securely tied up in his sack, 
for all the world like a huge dog. “He will 
stay with me now and guard me from the rest 
of his pack,” said the peasant to himself, and 
with that he unloosed the sack and let the 
rescued wolf step out. But the wolf, snarling 
and showing his ugly teeth, turned on the 
frightened peasant and would have devoured 
him with no waste of time, save that the man 
fell on his knees and beseeched for mercy. 
“Is old hospitality forgotten‘F’ asked the 
trembling peasant. 

The wolf considered this for a moment. 

338 


THE JUDGMENT OJF THE FOX 339 

Then he answered, “Yes. Old hospitality is 
forgotten in my family, but I will take you 
back in the sack to the forest and save you 
until I am a bit hungrier. I ate this morn¬ 
ing.” And the wolf put the peasant in his 
own sack, tied it at the top and slung it over 
his back as he started into the forest. 

But the peasant was not going to give up so 
easily. He cried inside his sack and begged, 
saying, “Give me a chance. Let the first 
passerby judge this affair!” So, after much 
talking of this and that, the wolf sat down on 
a log at the side of the path and waited, with 
the peasant in the sack, for some one to pass 
by. 

They had not long to wait. The first 
passerby was an ancient mare, who had been 
driven out of her stable by her owner in the 
village, because she had become old and weak. 
Although she had drawn loads faithfully and 
patiently for many seasons, she was now an 
outcast and was on her way to spend her de¬ 
clining years alone in the forest. The peasant 
put his trouble to her. “Is old hospitality to 
be forgotten ?” he asked. The wolf waited for 
the mare to reply as she did immediately, sigh¬ 
ing. “Yes, old hospitality, old service are 


340 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


forgotten,’’ she said as she passed by into the 
forest. 

“Does that not settle the matter for you, my 
friend?” asked the wolf of the peasant, but 
the man begged for a little more time. “Wait 
until some one else comes along,” he entreated 
from his sack, “Put the question to the next 
passerby.” 

So the wolf remained there at the side of the 
path until an old dog came along. This hound 
had served his master long and well, but now 
that he was too old to bark at night and keep 
robbers away, he had been expelled from the 
hearth and was taking his way to the forest 
where he expected to live out his life alone. 
To him the peasant put the question, “Is old 
hospitality forgotten?” he asked. 

The dog considered the matter for a moment 
and then he replied as had the mare, “Yes,” 
he said, “old favors are soon out of the mind. 
Look at me as an example of this,” and he 
limped along on his way. 

“How much more evidence do you need?’* 
asked the wolf, prepared to shoulder the sack 
and go on toward the forest, but the peasant 
begged and pleaded. “There should be at 
least three to judge of so important a matter,” 


THE JUDGMENT OF THE FOX 


341 


he said. ‘ 4 Kind wolf, wait for one more pass¬ 
erby before you give me up to so cruel and un¬ 
merited a fate.” 

The wolf was well filled and lazy, so he re¬ 
mained there on his log and presently along 
tripped the fox, waving his fine brush airily 
behind him and holding out his paw in good 
fellowship to the wolf. “Well, well, Sir 
Graysides!” exclaimed the fox, “a pleasant 
day to you, and what have you bagged this 
morning*?” 

The voice of the poor peasant issued then 
from the sack. He explained what had hap¬ 
pened and put his question to the fox, “Should 
old kindness be forgotten?” he pleaded. 

The fox sat down beside the wolf and con¬ 
sidered. After he had given the matter due 
thought, he said, “Proof, Sir Peasant and 
Sir Graysides! I am not sure that this wolf 
was ever sheltered in this sack. He is a large 
animal and the sack appears to me too small 
for him. Open the sack, let the man out, and 
then prove to me, Sir Graysides, that you were 
ever inside it.” 

The wolf was much put out that the fox 
should doubt his word. He let his prisoner 
out and crawled into the sack himself. The 


342 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


fox winked at the man. “Now we have done 
it!” he said. “Tie him up tight and beat him 
with a stick. And how many chickens from 
your poultry yard do I receive for this 
service?” 

The peasant looked at the fox in disgust. 
Then he opened the sack, and the wolf, re¬ 
leased, ran as fast as he could into the forest. 
Then the peasant gave chase to the fox, for 
this trickery was not to his liking. He gave 
chase to the fox, who had to run for his life, 
and ever since then the fox has found it wise, 
if he is going to keep his brush, to run from 
man. 


ON SUNDAY 




NOAH AND THE ARK 

Noah was a righteous man and perfect in 
his generation. Noah walked with God. And 
the earth was corrupt before God, and the 
earth was filled with violence. And God said 
unto Noah: 

“The end of all flesh is come before me, for 
the earth is filled with violence through them; 
and, behold, I will destroy the earth. 

“Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Rooms 
shalt thou make in the ark and shalt pitch it 
within and without. And this is how thou 
shalt make it. The length of the ark three 
hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, 
and the height of it thirty cubits. A light 
shalt thou make to the ark, and the door of 
the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with 
lower, second and third stories shalt thou 
make it. 

“And I, behold, I do bring a flood of waters 
upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein 
is the breath of life, from under heaven, every¬ 
thing that is in the earth shall be destroyed. 

“But I shall establish my covenant with thee; 

345 


346 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and 
thy sons and thy wife with thee. 

“And of every living thing of all flesh, two 
of every sort shall thou bring into the ark to 
keep them alive with thee; they shall be male 
and female. Of the birds after their kind, 
and of the cattle after their kind, of every 
creeping thing of the ground after its kind, 
two of every sort shall come unto thee, to 
keep them alive. 

“And take thou unto thee of all food that is 
eaten, and gather it to thee; and it shall be 
food for thee, and for them.” 

Thus did Noah. According to all that God 
commanded him, so did he. 

And Noah went in the ark, and his sons and 
his wife with him, because of the waters of the 
flood. Of beasts and of birds and of every¬ 
thing that creepeth on the ground there went 
in two and two unto Noah, as God had com¬ 
manded Noah. 

And it came to pass after seven days that 
the waters of the flood were upon the earth. 
Noah was six hundred years old at that time. 
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in 
the second month, on the seventeenth day of 
the month, on the same day were all the foun- 


NOAH AND THE ARK 


347 


tains of the great deep broken up, and the 
windows of heaven were opened. And the 
rain was upon the earth forty days and forty 
nights. 

In the selfsame day entered Noah and Shem 
and Ham and Japhet, and Noah’s wife into 
the ark. They, and every beast after its kind, 
and all the cattle after their kind, and every 
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth 
after its kind, and every bird after its kind, 
every bird of every sort. And these went in 
unto Noah in the ark, two and two of all 
flesh wherein is the breath of life. 

And the flood was forty days upon the earth; 
and the waters increased and bore up the ark 
and it was lifted above the earth. And the 
waters prevailed and increased greatly upon 
the earth, and the ark went upon the face of 
the waters. And the waters prevailed exceed¬ 
ingly, and all the high mountains that were 
under the heavens were covered. Fifteen 
cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the 
ark went upon the face of the waters. 

And every living thing that was upon the 
face of the earth, both man and cattle and 
creeping things were destroyed from the earth; 
and Noah only was left, and they that were 


348 IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 

with him in the ark. And the waters 
prevailed. 

And God remembered Noah and all the 
beasts and the cattle that were with him in 
the ark; and God made a wind to pass over 
the earth, and the waters assuaged. The 
fountains also of the deep, and the windows 
of heaven were stopped, and the rain from 
heaven was restrained. And the waters re¬ 
turned from off the earth continually. And 
after a hundred and fifty days the waters de¬ 
creased. And the ark rested in the seventh 
month, on the seventeenth day of the month 
upon the mountains of Ararat. 

And it came to pass that Noah opened the 
window of the ark which he had made, and 
he sent forth a dove from him to see if the 
waters were abated from off the face of the 
ground. But the dove found no rest for 
the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him 
in the ark, for the waters were upon the face 
of the whole earth. And he put forth his hand 
and took her and brought her in unto him in 
the ark. And he stayed yet another seven 
days, and again he sent forth the dove out of 
the ark, and the dove came in unto Noah at 
eventide; and, lo, in her mouth an olive leaf 


NOAH AND THE ARK 


349 


plucked off! So Noah knew that the waters 
were abated from off the earth. And he 
stayed yet another seven days and sent forth 
the dove. And she returned not again to him 
any more. 

And Noah removed the covering of the ark 
and God spoke to him, saying; 

“Go forth from the ark, thou and thy family 
and with thee every living thing of all flesh, 
both birds and cattle and every creeping thing 
that creepeth upon the earth that they may 
breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruit¬ 
ful, and multiply upon the earth.’’ 

And Noah went forth, and his sons and his 
wife; every creeping thing, and every bird, 
whatsoever moveth upon the earth, after their 
families, went forth out of the ark. 

And Noah builded an altar to God and made 
offerings upon it. And God smelled the sweet 
savor and said in His heart: 

“I will not again curse the ground any more 
for man’s sake. Neither will I again smite 
anything living as I have done. 

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and 
harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and 
summer, and day and night shall not cease,” 


DANIEL IN THE LIONS’ DEN 


It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 
a hundred and twenty satraps, who should 
be throughout the whole kingdom and over 
them three presidents, of whom Daniel was to 
be one; that these satraps might give account 
unto them, and that the king should have no 
damage. 

Then this Daniel was distinguished above 
the presidents and the satraps, because an 
excellent spirit was in him; and the king 
thought to set him over the whole realm. 

Then the presidents and the satraps sought 
to find occasion against Daniel concerning the 
the kingdom; but they could find no occasion 
or fault, forasmuch as he was faithful, neither 
was there any error or fault found in him. 

Then said these men, “We shall find no 
occasion against this Daniel, except we find 
it against him touching the law of his God.” 
Then these presidents and satraps assembled 
together to the king, and said thus unto him; 

350 


DANIEL IN THE LIONS’ DEN 


351 


4 ‘King Darius, live forever ! All the presi¬ 
dents of the kingdom, the deputies and the 
satraps, the counsellors and the governors have 
consulted together to establish a royal edict 
and to make a strong interdict, that whosoever 
shall ask a petition of any god or man for 
thirty days, save of thee, O King, he shall be 
cast into a den of lions. 

“Now, O King establish the interdict, and 
sign the writing, that it be not changed, accord¬ 
ing to the law of the Medes and Persians 
which altereth not.” 

Wherefor King Darius signed the writing. 

And when Daniel knew that the writing 
was signed, he went into his house (now his 
windows were open in his chamber toward 
Jerusalem), and he kneeled upon his knees 
three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks 
before his God, as he did aforetime. Then 
these men assembled together, and found Dan¬ 
iel making petition and supplication before 
his God. Then they came near, and spoke be¬ 
fore the king concerning his interdict. 

“Hast thou not signed a writing that every 
man that shall make petition unto any god or 
man within thirty days, save unto thee, O 
King, shall be cast into a den of lions'?” 


352 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


The king answered and said, “The thing 
is true, according to the law of the Medes and 
Persians, which changeth not.” 

Then answered they and said before the 
king, “That Daniel, who is of the children of 
the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O 
King, nor the interdict that thou hast signed, 
but maketh petition three times a day.” 

Then the king, when he heard these words, 
was displeased, and set his heart on Daniel 
to deliver him. And he labored until the 
going down of the sun to rescue him. Then 
these men assembled together unto the king, 
and said unto him; “Know, O King, that it is 
the law of the Medes and Persians that no 
statute which the king establisheth may be 
changed.” 

Then the king commanded, and they brought 
Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. 

Now the king spoke and said unto Daniel, 
“Thy God whom thou servest continually, he 
will deliver thee.” 

And a stone was brought and laid upon the 
mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with 
his own signet and with the signet of his lords 
that nothing might be changed concerning 
Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and 


DANIEL IN THE LIONS' DEN 


353 


passed the night fasting; neither were instru¬ 
ments of music brought before him, and his 
sleep fed from him. 

The king arose very early in the morning, 
and went in haste unto the den of lions. And 
when he came near unto the den he called to 
Daniel in lament; “O Daniel, servant of the 
living God, is thy God, whom thou servest 
continually, able to deliver thee from the 
lions?” 

Then said Daniel unto the king; “O King, 
live forever! My God hath sent his angel and 
hath shut the lions * mouths, and they have not 
hurt me. Forasmuch as before him innocency 
was found in me, and also before thee, O King, 
have I done no hurt.” 

Then was the king exceedingly glad, and 
commanded that they take Daniel up out of 
the den, and no manner of hurt was found 
upon him. 


A BATTLE HORSE 


Hast thou given the horse his might! 

Hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering 
mane? 

Hast thou made him to leap as a locust? 

The glory of his snorting is terrible. 

He paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his 
strength; 

He goeth out to meet the armed men. 

He mocketh at fear and is not dismayed; 

Neither turneth he back from the sword. 

The quiver rattleth upon him, 

The flashing spear and the javelin. 

He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and 
rage; 

Neither believeth he that it is the voice of the 
trumpet. 

As oft as the trumpet soundeth he saith, aha! 

And he smelleth the battle afar off, 

The thunder of the captains and the shouting. 


354 


FOR CHRISTMAS 










































\ 

















V 















THE SILVER PORRINGER 


In the beginning of the world, when gigan¬ 
tic mountains sent down their thousands of 
rivers to water the valleys, and the great men 
of the times were the shepherds and the lords 
of the cows, there was the son of a herdsman 
who set out on the road of life. Neither shoes 
for his feet, or any gold or even a sword had 
he, but his heart was full of courage and he 
went along merrily with the hope of bring¬ 
ing back honor to his tribe on the plain. 

In those days there were more wild beasts 
than men, and it is said that these beasts held 
council and discussed matters with men, but 
they lived by themselves and did not come 
down to the plain -unless it were to carry off 
a luckless sheep or cow. This young herds¬ 
man had reason to fear for his life among the 
fiercer of the animals who inhabited the for¬ 
ests, but he strode on pluckily until he had left 
the tents of his people far behind, and there 
was nothing to be seen save shadows, and no 
357 


358 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


sound except the moaning of the winds and 
the roaring of the mountain torrents. Noth¬ 
ing? Ah, but this youth suddenly heard a 
noise as if all his tribesmen were met in deadly 
battle. Snarling, roaring, growling, it was. 
Not men, but wild beasts fighting. 

He was of a strong mind to turn back, but 
he kept on until he came to a plateau, wild 
and unfrequented by any man. There, in the 
center of it, lay a great silver porringer, 
round and shining and lustrous. About this 
beautiful gleaming porringer were ranged the 
beasts. The lion was there, as was also the 
bear. The elephant and the cow and the lamb, 
the ass, the dog and the goat! All the beasts 
were there, snarling and ready to fall upon 
the weaker ones and tear them, all for posses¬ 
sion of the silver porringer. 

Then the youth discovered why this bowl 
was so greatly coveted. It was a porringer 
of plenty. Whoever of the beasts held it, 
for him did it fill itself and overflow and re¬ 
fill with what he most desired. Honey, the 
greenest and most toothsome grass and herbs, 
rich meat such as is eaten only by lords, fat 
grain—all these the porringer offered. And 
each beast wished it for his own possession. 


THE SILVER PORRINGER 


359 


They saw the youth approaching and at once 
they put the matter to him for decision , 1 ‘ Lord 
of herds,” said the lion, their king and spokes¬ 
man, “To whom of us shall this porringer 
belong"?” 

Now this was indeed a difficult question for 
even a seer, but the youth had a thought. “If 
anyone of the beasts controls this porringer 
alone,” he said, “it will lose its magic power, 
for he will take from it only for his own needs. 
Share it, the bear enjoying its honey, the meat- 
eating animals taking its meat in their turn, 
and not neglecting the weaker animals who 
need herbs and grain. This use of the por¬ 
ringer will increase its usefulness, for that 
which is shared begets plenty.” 

Stupid, clumsy beasts, to whose dull minds 
this truth had never occurred! The youth 
left them, each dipping into the silver bowl 
in his turn and eating and drinking as he 
needed, until it was the turn of his neighbor. 
The lad laughed at the simplicity of the thing, 
but he soon ceased to feel merry. 

He was taking his way along the road of 
life as all the shepherds and herdsmen must, 
and he was not well set up for the journey. 
His feet grew sore and he had scant food and 


360 


i IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


no drink. As lie climbed the mountain he felt 
chill winds and snow fell, and he was poorly 
clothed for such weather. He was alone and 
he had a great desire for companionship. He 
began to lose courage and was of a mind to 
turn back to the tribe of his fathers, when he 
felt a touch upon his shivering shoulders. 

The lion, remembering his help during the 
battle of the beasts for food, had given him 
a mantle of warm skin. At the same time, 
he looked down in amazement to see that his 
feet were covered with sandals of goatskin, 
tough and comfortable for traveling. On his 
arm hung a skin of cow’s milk and from his 
shoulder hung a cloak of lamb’s wool which he 
might lay down upon the ground and sleep on. 
The following day the mighty elephant met him 
and gave him an offering of fine white ivory, 
which would bring much gold in some market 
place, for it could be carved into beautiful 
forms and ornaments. And for his friend and 
companion, this youth felt the nose of the dog 
thrust in his hand. All of the beasts, save 
one, had expressed their gratitude to this 
youth who was taking his way along the road 
of life. 

So he went on from one great deed to an- 


THE SILVER PORRINGER 


361 


other. He loaded the elephant with fine 
woods, cedar, and mahogany, and cypress, 
with which to build a temple in his village. 
He dug gold and silver and copper from the 
earth. He planted wide fields of wheat and 
he set out orchards of olive trees, and vine¬ 
yards, thick with grapes, sprang up wherever 
he walked. He forgot about the one animal, 
the humble ass, that had made no return for 
his help. When he did think of it, he laughed 
it aside. 4 ‘The dullest and most useless of all 
beasts,’’ he said to himself. 

As for the silver porringer, so round and 
shining and fruitful, it altogether slipped out 
of his mind. And presently this youth re¬ 
turned to the village of tents from which he 
had set out, rich and honored, but he found 
discontent in the tribe. He found that they 
had no leader; even he, who had gained the 
goodwill of all beasts and conquered fear and 
difficulty, was not a king among the shepherds 
and herdsmen. 

44 One will come,” they said among them¬ 
selves. 4 4 The shepherds have read of his com¬ 
ing in the stars, but we have waited many sea¬ 
sons for him to pass over our plain with his 
train and rich trappings.” 


362 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


So they waited from one sign in the stars 
to another, but no king with his loaded camels 
and his lords and soldiers passed. 

But it happened that one evening the youth 
stood at the door of his tent upon the plain 
and he looked up into the wide spaces of the 
night sky. He exclaimed. Rising, round and 
silver and fruitful from the horizon, he saw 
the wonderful porringer. It was the moon, 
dropped to earth when the beasts had found it, 
and now put back in its proper place in the 
sky. And as this youth watched he saw, in 
the silver path the moonlight made upon the 
the earth, a small, humble company approach¬ 
ing through the village on their way toward 
Egypt. A man, helping his slow way by 
means of a staff, walked beside a small beast 
of burden. As they came closer a mother, 
carrying a young child closely wrapped in her 
poor cloak, could be seen riding upon the beast. 
They were a wandering family, constantly 
looking backward as if they were in terror of 
being pursued. When they reached his tent 
the youth offered them shelter, but they would 
not stay. They told him that they must be on, 
because of the persecution of the despot, 
Herod, but the mother tenderly lifted the 


THE SILVER PORRINGER 


363 


wrappings to show him the soft face of her 
sleeping little one. A circlet of silver moon¬ 
light crowned the child’s brow. 

The next day a seer of the village ran from 
tent to tent with his parchment map of the 
stars. 

“A sign!” he cried. 44 The constellations 
last night pointed to the passing of a King of 
Shepherds and Herdsmen. It must be that 
his train went through the village while we 
slept.” 

So the entire village thought, until the youth 
told them of the poor family fleeing from 
Herod. He told them there had been no train. 

But later, when he had time to sit at the 
door of his tent and bring back to his mind 
his journey along the road of life, a vision 
came to this youth. Each of the beasts of the 
earth had come to him in his need, save one, 
and that the most humble. It had been left 
for this one, the little gray ass, to show him the 
King of the Shepherds and Herdsmen, as He 
took his meek way into the land of Egypt. 


THE WHITE BEAR’S CHRISTMAS 

The White Bear was the only one near the 
Dovrefell. A hunter had trapped and caught 
him near the merry Christmas time and he 
planned to give him as a Christmas present 
to the King of Denmark. There, at the King’s 
estate in Einmark, the White Bear would be 
kept well, bountifully fed and he would be 
taught tricks by which to amuse the King. 

But the Dovrefell, that old place of magic 
and mystery in those mountains of the North, 
was deep with snow at the Christmas season. 
There were no paths broken and the hunter 
had hard traveling on his way to town. It 
was the day before Christmas, and he was 
still a few hours oft, and could journey no 
farther. He came, on the edge of the Dovre¬ 
fell, at evening, to a small hut and he knocked 
at the door, asking for a night’s lodging for 
himself and the White Bear. 

The owner of the hut came in great haste, 
loaded with his cloak and staff and packet of 

364 


THE WHITE BEAR’S CHRISTMAS 365 

food, to the door. Inside the hunter could see 
that the house was ready for Christinas. The 
floor was scrubbed until it was as white as the 
snow outside and shone in the candle light 
like patches of brightness from the stars. 
There was a fir tree standing in the center of 
the hut bearing gifts, and the Christmas cook¬ 
ing was done; sausages, rice and little salt 
fishes. 

“Can you give me and this bear food and 
lodging for the night?)” the hunter asked. 
“Will you share your holiday cheer with us 
poor travelers for the sake of the King to 
whom we journey at daybreak?” 

The owner of the house peered in a terrified 
way into the dark spaces of the forest of the 
Dovref ell. Then he lowered his voice as he re¬ 
plied, “That is impossible, good friend. I am 
on my way to the hut of a relative in the next 
village, for tonight the trolls take possession 
of my house for their Christmas merry mak¬ 
ing. They called to me from the forest when 
I was out cutting my Christmas tree. I saw 
none of the creatures but one knows the voice 
of a troll, deep and hoarse, and one can tell 
their heavy tread along the paths without see¬ 
ing them. 


366 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“We will come to your house on Christmas 
Eve,” the trolls warned me. “Be sure that 
you make ready for us and cook plenty of good 
things,” they bade me. “I have done their 
bidding and now I must flee, for it is well 
known that if a troll but touches a mortal on 
Christmas, that man will be obliged to return 
with them to their kingdom under the moun¬ 
tains and never come back to his home again.” 

“Well, I know the forest,” said the hunter, 
“and I am not afraid of the trolls. This bear 
is as weary as I. Neither of us can go on far¬ 
ther. Let him sleep under your stove and I 
will find a place for myself in the hay in your 
barn.” 

“If you have the courage, do so,” said the 
householder, “as for me, I must be on my 
way,” and off he went, with his wife and all 
the children. 

The White Bear went lumbering into the 
house and crawled underneath the stove where 
he soon went to sleep in the warmth. The 
hunter covered himself with hay in the barn 
and was soon sound asleep. Then, neither 
of them knowing it, the magic of the Dovre- 
fell on Christmas Eve began. 

The stars rained down from the sky and 


THE WHITE BEAR’S CHRISTMAS 


367 


danced with the frosted tips of the pine tree 
branches. The evergreens twined themselves 
into garlands and wreaths and trimmed them¬ 
selves with red berries, these berries being, 
each one, a drop of blood from the wound of a 
hunted animal of the Dovrefell, blessed in this 
way on Christmas Eve. 

Shepherds, their lambs following as if it 
were the season of spring, took their way along 
the forest, and following them men on camels, 
never seen there before, crossed the Dovrefell 
going East. 

But when these were gone, the trolls came 
out, treading heavily as they hastened and 
thinking of nobody except themselves; great 
trolls and small trolls, trolls with long noses 
and some with short noses, trolls who limped 
and trolls who stumbled, but not one of them 
straight or honest. For the trolls of the 
Dovrefell were spirits of evil and did not 
know how to keep Christmas as mortals know. 

So the trolls entered the hut on the edge of 
the forest, tracking the ooze of the marshes 
and the mud of their kingdom under the moun¬ 
tain over the clean floor. They ate the rice 
and the sausages and the little salt fish and 
they danced clumsily about the Christmas 


368 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


tree, each one trying to crowd his fellow and 
each snatching food away from the troll next 
to him. 

Suddenly, they saw a white nose sticking 
out from underneath the stove. They knew 
whose nose it was, and they were not afraid. 
They kept cats at home, great ugly cats with 
long tails and green eyes that glowed in the 
night. One of the trolls put a bit of very hot 
sausage meat on the end of a stick and held 
it out, “Come, pussy, have a bite of Christmas 
feasting,” it said, touching the nose and burn¬ 
ing it as he spoke. 

Out came the White Bear full of rage at 
having his nap so disturbed. He rose on his 
haunches and stood there, towering above the 
terrified little green trolls. They dropped 
their food and their Christmas gifts from the 
tree, and ran out of the door. Nor did they 
stop until they had reached the depths of the 
Dovrefell from which they had come. 

Christmas was gay that season. On their 
way to town the hunter called upon the family 
who had prepared Christmas for the trolls 
and told them that they might return in peace. 
The White Bear was welcomed at the palace 


THE WHITE BEAR’S CHRISTMAS 369 

and given fine quarters and rich food, while 
the hunter had a reward of gold. 

So the year passed and it was near the next 
Christinas. The householder was again in the 
forest cutting his Christinas tree, and again 
he heard the deep, hoarse voice of a troll, un¬ 
seen, speaking to him. But it was a very 
different tune the troll had! 

“Have you still your big white pussy, good 
sir?” asked the troll. 

Now it happened that the man did have a 
fine white house cat. “Yes, and she has six 
fierce kittens,” he replied. 

There was no reply from the troll, no sound 
except his heavy footsteps sounding farther 
and farther away. 

So the trolls, it is told in old stories, left 
the Dovrefell, and never again did they de¬ 
mand that a house be given over to them on 
Christmas Eve. 


THE CAT WHO KEPT CHKISTMAS 

The family always packed the box for the 
poor shortly after Christmas. At that time 
there were so many old things which the chil¬ 
dren did not want, because of the beautiful 
new ones that the holidays had brought. This 
particular year it was larger than a box; it 
was an old trunk, for the children were send¬ 
ing a great many cast-off toys and other gifts 
to little boys and girls who might need them. 

Each member of the family had been busy 
for an entire week getting ready to pack this 
trunk for the poor. Big Sister had looked 
over her bureau drawers and had taken out 
the colored handkerchiefs which had faded a 
good deal in the laundering, and from her 
clothespress she had taken out the faded ging¬ 
ham dresses for giving away. 

Big Brother had a number of shirts with 
worn cuffs and he made these look very well 
for a poor boy by adding his last Christmas 
neckties and a pair of brass cuff links, sent 

370 


THE CAT WHO KEPT CHRISTMAS 371 

him also last year by someone who thought 
they were gold. 

Little Sister washed and ironed the older 
clothes of last Christmas’s doll and glued in 
the doll’s eyes newly. This had been a shut¬ 
eye doll, but the eyes had fallen into the back 
of her head. Little Sister had taken off her 
wig and found the eyes, but now of course they 
would never open and close again, and the 
doll’s wig was at a slightly twisted angle. 

Little Brother had found ever so many 
games from which some of the pieces, or the 
counters, or the bird and the animal cards 
were missing. He had collected his legless 
wooden animals and his wheel-less steam en¬ 
gine and cars for packing in the trunk 
for the poor. And then, to make it look 
cheerful and as if someone who loved them 
had sent the things, the entire family had 
wrapped the gifts in the Christmas pa¬ 
pers and tied them with the Christmas holly 
ribbon and stuffed more red and white tissue 
papers in the corners of the trunk. When 
they had finished, it was indeed a full trunk, 
and larger than any box sent from the neigh¬ 
borhood that year. 

But there was quite a little delay about 


372 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


getting it started. In the first place, the town 
expressman was too busy to come to the house 
and take the trunk down to the railway station 
from which it was going to a far-off mission¬ 
ary place, maybe China. In the next place, 
the trunk was so stuffed with the family’s 
cast off gifts that it would not close for 
locking. 

“We shall have to wait until the express- 
man has time to come,” said Big Sister, “and 
then we will ask him to lock it.” 

And then the family forgot all about the 
trunk and the expressman and the poor and 
China, and everything, because of what hap¬ 
pened. The cat ran away! She was a beauti¬ 
ful cat, gray and fat and sleek and with blue 
eyes and a long, sweeping tail. She was eight 
years old and was called Georgette, because 
Uncle George had given her to the family. 
Georgette had always been a model house cat, 
never taking trips over the garden wall. She 
spent her days eating and purring and follow¬ 
ing patches of sunshine about on the rugs. She 
was greatly loved, and everyone was distressed 
when she disappeared. 

They looked for her in her favorite places, 


THE CAT WHO KEPT CHRISTMAS 


373 


in the grandmother’s hat box, in the basket 
of clean clothes from the laundry, inside the 
folds of the best silk and down quilt. They 
asked the neighbors about Georgette, and they 
searched the streets for her. They decided 
finally to advertise for her in the newspaper, 
offering a large reward for Georgette’s return. 
Little Sister cried herself to sleep and Little 
Brother would have done the same, except that 
he was a boy. Then the family woke up, sad, 
with no Georgette coming purring upstairs 
to see them. The doorbell rang. It was the 
expressman, come at last to take out the trunk 
for the missionaries. 

“You will have to close it for us, please!” 
said Big Sister. 

“And lock it, if you will,” said Big Brother. 

“You could sit on it to get it shut,” sug¬ 
gested Little Sister. 

“Because it is a very crammed and stuffed 
trunk,” said Little Brother, but then the ex¬ 
pressman, trying to do all these things, spoke. 
“Who is in this trunk?” he asked. “Some¬ 
thing moves! ’ ’ 

The family all crowded around the trunk. 
The expressman lifted the partially closed 


374 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


lid. Then he raised it all the way. “I heard 
her stirring about and scuffling /’ he said. “I 
almost locked your cat in.” 

Out stepped Georgette from the tray of the 
trunk for the poor, arching herself and purr¬ 
ing. She had packed herself underneath the 
many layers of tissue paper and ribbons. 

How the family laughed. They remem¬ 
bered how much Georgette liked crinkly tis¬ 
sue paper and trailing ribbons. At Christmas 
she continually tried to get herself done up in 
a parcel when the family was wrapping gifts 
trying, so to speak, to give herself away. 

And then the family looked thoughtful. 
Hadn’t their old pussy done something which 
they had not, given herself in the trunk for 
the missionaries. Not one of them had given 
himself or herself; no, indeed, they had packed 
their cast off belongings. So the trunk was 
filled over again, filled with spick and span 
offerings, not so many of course, but better, 
for now the gifts were those the children would 
have liked to keep. And Georgette watched, 
purring loudly, and watching her chance to 
squeeze herself in, too, but the children would 
not let her. 


FOR EASTER 





OP THE SNOW QUEEN’S PALACE 


His name was Kay, and hers Gerda* They 
were not brother and sister, but were as fond 
of each other as if they had been so. Their 
parents lived exactly opposite in two attics, 
but as they had window boxes with herbs and 
a rose tree, that nearly reached across, the 
children used to get out of their windows, 
where, seated on little stools under the rose 
tree, they used to play together. 

But once, as they sat there playing, Kay 
exclaimed, “Oh, something sharp has run into 
my heart! Now something has flown into my 
eye!” 

The little girl took him round the neck and 
looked in his eyes, but nothing could be seen. 
It was not gone, though. A splinter of magic 
glass, the hateful glass flying about the world 
to make one’s heart turn to ice, had come to 
little Kay. Poor Kay had got one of those 
pieces in his heart. It did not hurt him but 
it was there. 


377 


378 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


The rose-tree seemed now to Kay to be 
worm-eaten. He kicked and frowned at little 
Gerda. When his grandmother told him sto¬ 
ries, he said that they were only fit for a baby. 
The summer passed and the cold winter came 
on. Now Kay’s heart was like a lump of ice. 
One day he took his sledge and went out to 
play with the other boys in the street, but 
seeing a large passing sleigh, he quickly 
fastened his sledge to it to catch a ride. 

The sleigh drove round the square, and then 
faster and faster. It drove out through the 
city gates and the snow began to fall so thickly 
that the little boy could not see before him. 
He called loudly, and tried to say his prayers, 
but could only remember the multiplication 
table. On, on he went, and he did not return 
to his home. 

Oh, what long, dreary winter days those 
were! 

Now came spring and warmer sunshine. 

“Kay is dead and gone!” little Gerda cried. 

“I do not think so,” the Sunshine said in 
reply. 

“Kay is dead and gone!’ ? she said to the 
Swallows. 


OF THE SNOW QUEEN’S PALACE 379 

“We do not think so,” these answered; and 
at last little Gerda did not think so either. 

“I will put on my new red shoes,” she said 
one morning, “these which Kay has never 
seen, and I will go down to the river and ask 
it about him.” 

The river could tell her nothing of Kay. 
“I will give you my new red shoes if you will 
restore my little friend to me,” Gerda said. 
And she did this, taking off her red shoes and 
throwing them far out into the stream. But 
all the river had to offer Gerda was a boat 
which took her gently down the water until 
she came to a little house in a cherry orchard, 
a strange little house with red and blue win¬ 
dows. It had a straw roof and in front stood 
two wooden soldiers. A very old woman wear¬ 
ing a plaited straw hat came out of the door 
and welcomed Gerda. She kept her a long 
time tending her garden, but she had not seen 
little Kay. Gerda tarried there until autumn, 
but Kay did not pass by even. So she went on 
again. 

It was now very gray and cold out in the 
wide world and Gerda had no shoes. She 
made her way to a castle where the princess 


380 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


who lived there took the little girl in for a 
night, but the princess had not seen Kay. She 
kindly gave Gerda boots and a muff; and when 
she wished to leave, a new coach of pure gold 
with a coachman, footman and outriders. A 
wise raven of the forest sat by Gerda’s side 
the first ten miles to direct her, and the inside 
of the coach was lined with cakes and ginger¬ 
bread and nuts. 

But nowhere along the road had anyone 
seen little Kay. The raven, who had lately 
taken a bride and had a permanent position 
with food at the palace, had to leave Gerda. 
She drove alone through a dark forest, and 
the coach gave off light like a torch. 

“Gold! Gold!” cried a band of robbers, 
falling upon Gerda and taking away her car¬ 
riage. It would have fared badly with her 
now, but for a little robber-girl of about her 
own age. This robber-girl took Gerda into 
her hut, for she coveted her muff. And tied 
inside the hut was a reindeer, who had news 
of Kay. 

Even the wood-pigeons of that cold northern 
forest could speak of him. 

“ Kourrou! Kourrou!” called the pigeons. 
“Little Kay sat in the Snow Queen’s carriage, 


OF THE SNOW QUEEN’S PALACE 381 

which drove close over our forest, as we lay 
in our nest. She has most likely gone to Lap- 
land. Ask the reindeer who is tied up here.” 

“ There is ice and snow, and there it is de¬ 
lightful and healthy,” said the reindeer. 
“There the Snow Queen has her summer tent, 
but her palace is up towards the North Pole.” 

1 c Oh, Kay! Dear little Kay! ’ ’ Gerda sighed. 
“Do you know where Lapland is?” she asked 
the Reindeer. 

“Who should know better than I?” the ani¬ 
mal answered, its eyes sparkling. “I was 
born and bred up there, and there I have run 
about in a snow-field.” 

The little robber-girl went to the reindeer. 
“I will unfasten you,” she said, “and let you 
out and then you can run to the Snow Queen. 
But you must make good use of your legs, and 
carry this little girl straight to the palace 
where her lost playfellow is.” 

The reindeer jumped high in the air with 
delight. The robber-girl lifted little Gerda 
on to its back, having taken the precaution to 
tie her fast, and even to give her a little cushion 
to sit upon. 

“Now run!” she said, after taking Gerda’s 
muff, but giving her a pair of fur gloves in- 


382 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


stead, “and take great care of your little 
girl!” And the reindeer flew as fast as pos¬ 
sible through the great forest, and over 
heaths and marshes. The wolves howled, and 
the birds of prey screamed, “Atsclne!’* It 
sounded from the sky exactly like sneezing. 

“There are my old northern lights,” said 
the reindeer, “see how they shine!” And 
then it ran even faster than before. It ran 
day and night. 

Gerda suffered with the piercing cold. 
“Oh, I have lost off my boots,” she cried, and 
then, “I have not got my gloves.” But the 
reindeer would not venture to stop, and it ran 
on toward the north till it came to a bush with 
red berries, farther than Lapland, and farther 
than Finland. There it put little Gerda down, 
kissed her, and large, clear tears ran down 
the animal’s cheeks when it started off again. 
There stood poor little Gerda, without boots 
and without gloves, in the middle of that fear¬ 
fully cold country. 

She ran forward as fast as possible, met by 
a whole regiment of snowflakes which did not 
fall from heaven but seemed to run straight 
along the ground. They grew larger and she 


OF THE SNOW QUEEN’S PALACE 383 

saw that they were the Snow Queen’s guard, 
like fat little bears with bristly hairs. They 
were living snowflakes. Gerda prayed, and 
the breath coming like smoke out of her mouth 
became frozen and dense. It seemed to as¬ 
sume the form of guards wearing helmets 
and with spears in their hands. They thrust 
these spears into the fearful live snowflakes, 
breaking them into hundreds of pieces, and 
so Gerda went on joyously and in safety. 

So she came to the Snow Queen’s palace. 

The walls were of driven snow, and the 
doors and windows of the cutting winds. 
There were more than a hundred rooms, all 
lighted by the Northern Lights, but they were 
empty, icy-cold, and shining. There was 
never any amusement there, not even a bears’ 
ball, never any card-parties, with tea and 
talk, in the Snow Queen’s palace. Gerda saw 
no one there, but little Kay. 

Little Kay was quite blue with cold—indeed 
almost black. He was dragging some sharp- 
edged, flat pieces of ice about, and these he 
fitted together in all possible ways, just as we 
do small pieces of wood in a puzzle. In those 
vast, empty rooms Kay was alone, with the 


384 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


broken glass in bis heart, and a bit in bis eyes 
also, thinking and thinking. He stood there 
quite stiff and still. 

Little Gerda pressed him closely to her, and 
cried, “Kay! dear little Kay, I have found 
you at last!” 

But he stood still, quite stiff and cold. 
Gerda cried bitter, burning tears, which fell 
upon his breast, and penetrating to his heart 
thawed the lump of ice, and dissolved the piece 
of broken glass. He looked at her, and the 
tears of joy that came when he recognized his 
playmate, washed the bits of glass from his 
eyes. 

“Gerda! Dear little Gerda I 1 ’ cried Kay in 
delight. 

They took each other by the hand and wan¬ 
dered out of the palace. They spoke of their 
grandmother, and of the rose tree on the roof, 
and Kay’s cheeks were as rosy and his eyes 
as bright as Gerda’s. Wherever they went 
the winds were lulled and the sun burst forth. 
And when they got to the bush with the red 
berries they found the reindeer waiting for 
them, and another with it. The two reindeer 
carried them quickly to the border of the coun- 


OF THE SNOW QUEEN’S PALACE 385 

try, and there the first green was springing 

up. 

It was delightful spring, with green leaves 
and beautiful flowers. They recognized the 
high steeples and the large city as that in 
which they lived. So they entered it and went 
to the grandmother’s house, up the stairs and 
into the rooms, where everything was as it used 
to be, the clock going “tick, tick!” and the 
hands moving. 

And the cold and empty splendor of the 
Snow Queen’s palace was forgotten like a 
dream. 


THE HORSE THAT BROUGHT 
THE SPRING 


Balder, that best beloved son of Odin, was 
dead. He, the pure, the bright, the bringer of 
good gifts to all the world had been treacher¬ 
ously slain, and there were sounds of lamenta¬ 
tion in the castle of Odin. 

Down on the shore of the sea they had 
brought Balder ? s own ship, the Ringhorn, to 
anchor and hung the deck with rich trappings 
and banners. On the ship were placed the 
most precious things of Balder’s brave life, 
his bow and arrow, his sword, his helmet. The 
deck was heaped with cedar wood on which 
were spread rich spices and fragrant leaves 
and priceless gums. Balder lay in state on 
this couch and when all was ready they led his 
horse, Gyller the Golden, bridled and saddled 
as if for a very long journey on the ship. 
They pushed the Ringhorn off from the shore 
and it sailed slowly away, burning crimson in 
the light of the western sun. Then it seemed 

386 


THE HORSE THAT BROUGHT SPRING 387 

only a ship of smoke on the horizon as the snn 
set, and the mourners watching it disappear, 
cried out in their grief, 

“Our son is gone with Balder, the Good. 
What is to become of our lives since this 
glorious son of Odin has been taken away from 
us'T’ Then they returned to their darkened 
homes and there were no sounds save those 
of weeping in the land of the Northern 
Lights. 

The earth also sorrowed. The fields put off 
their summer dress of green and wore dull 
russet colors. The flowers withered and died. 
The trees allowed their leaves to dry and then 
fall to the ground, after which they appeared 
bare and as if dead. The birds took their way 
through the air and toward the south as if they 
were looking for Balder, and the little animals 
of the forest, the cony, the hare and the fox, 
found burrows for themselves in which they 
hid. 

There were no longer the sounds of flailing 
the grain, no songs from the reapers and the 
whirring of the spinning wheels was stilled. 
The huntsman’s horn was hung upon the wall, 
no battle drum could be heard, and the only 
echo of the mourning for Balder came from 


388 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


the sighing of the leafless trees and the waves 
beating against the shore from which the hero 
had sailed. 

But of all those who missed Balder, there 
was none so lonely as his mother. She could 
not be comforted, nor could his sisters or his 
father, Odin, who sat upon his throne with his 
great blue hood pulled low over his face. 
Prom morning to gray twilight, the mother of 
Balder wept for her son and his father lis¬ 
tened for the hoof beats of his horse, hoping 
that Balder would return. Frost and ice and 
snow covered the earth, and Odin had the fear 
that, unless Balder were brought home, there 
would be no sun again. The earth, bound in 
the chains of winter, would be destroyed. But 
who could tell whither Balder had sailed, and 
if he ever would come home again ? 

They were sure that Hela, the pale Queen of 
the Kingdom of Night, had Balder in her care. 
And none had ever gone that way and re¬ 
turned, no matter how greatly mourned was 
the lost one for whom they sought. But 
Balder had a younger brother, Hermod, 
only a slender youth, but brave beyond any 
warrior twice his size and strength. Balder’s 
horse was gone from the stable of Odin but 


THE HORSE THAT BROUGHT SPRING 389 


there was left Gray Sleipner, Hermod’s own 
horse. And never, from that day to this, has 
there been such a horse. 

Eight feet, eight flashing hoofs had Sleipner. 
He had been known to vault over the rainbow 
with his fair haired little master, Hermod, 
clutching his flying mane and shouting his joy 
to the stars. Have you seen the flying tail of 
a comet flash across the sky? That would be 
Gray Sleipner’s tail. 

So it came about that Hermod put his arms 
about his mother’s bowed shoulders and 
begged her to be comforted. “ I go to seek my 
brother,” he told her. Sleipner will carry me 
safely to the dark kingdom of Hela, if any 
steed can reach that place. ’ ’ And before Odin 
could hold him back, or anyone tell Hermod 
how luckless a ride he was about to start out 
upon, he had mounted Sleipner and they were 
off. 

Away from the lights of Odin’s castle, away 
from the abode of the heroes and on to that 
shadowy highroad which all souls travel on 
their way to the land of Hela and eternal 
sleep—can you see a lad, who had never 
been so far away from home before, a boy with 
deep blue eyes and long, fair hair like that of 


390 


IN THE ANIMAL WOULD 


the vikings, taking his lonely way? It was 
a fearsome road for a viking, or a god, through 
mist and fog and over rocks and into ever in¬ 
creasing darkness with countless turnings in 
the road beyond which lay the night always, 
and the unknown. 

But listen, as you follow Hermod, to the 
steady, friendly heat of the strong hoofs of 
Hermod’s horse, Sleipner. It seemed as if 
Sleipner must have known that he was on his 
way to find his stable mate, Gyller the Golden, 
who had been carried away with Balder on the 
ship of fire. Not once did Sleipner balk or 
rear at the strange echoes his hoof beats made 
among the hills. Not once did he shy at the 
pale specters who flitted through the air about 
his head, at the hooting of the owls or the 
impish laughter of the goblins who tried to 
catch his bridle and hold him back. 

Clatter, clatter, clitter, clitter, clatter, over 
the miles of this road of shadows, over bogland 
and marshland, nine days and nine nights 
Sleipner, the eight-footed horse, carried the 
iboy, Hermod. Slowly where the road was 
smooth, pacing up the steep places, wading 
waterways, spurning the rocks, looking back 
to tell his master to keep up his courage, on 


THE HORSE THAT BROUGHT SPRING 391 


went Sleipner toward the Land of Night. 
There is hardly any faithfulness like that of 
a horse, but Sleipner’s was the greatest of all, 
for he sensed the way of doom they were go¬ 
ing but would not slacken his speed while he 
carried a lad who was seeking his brother. 

On they went until suddenly a dim, pale 
light began to show beyond a valley, and after 
this there was a plain, and then the banks of 
a warm, slow flowing river. But now all 
sounds were stilled, there were no echoes of 
Sleipner’s hoofs on the road, and when 
Hermod tried to sing for keeping up his 
courage, his voice was soundless. 

This was the river Gjol and over it stretched 
a bridge, a narrow footway of gleaming gold 
with a closed gate at the other side and a 
maiden in shining white garments to guard 
the gate and question those who approached. 
Sleipner brought the boy, Hermod, over the 
bridge, but the maiden held up her hand as 
they approached the gate. 

“Who are you and what is your errand?” 
she asked. “You shake this bridge as it did not 
move with the crossing of five thousand foot 
passengers bound for the kingdom of Hela, 
the pale queen, but yesterday. Your cheeks 


392 IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 

are rosy like the apples of the earth and your 
eyes glow like the eyes of the living. Your 
steed is a mighty horse and his breath is fiery 
and his eight hoofs strike sparks on the bridge 
over which only the spirits of the dead cross. 
Surely, you two have lost your road?” 

“Nay, hut we have but just found our 
road,” Hermod told the maiden who guarded 
the gate.” My brother, Balder the Good, 
went from the land of our father, Odin, in the 
North, and since he left us there has been 
neither light of the sun or any warmth in the 
heart of our mother. Until he returns, the 
earth will be cold and no flowers will spring or 
the trees bring forth fruit. My horse and I 
have come a long way. I pray you open to 
us, if by any chance you can direct me to my 
brother. 3 ’ 

“I do remember the coming of Balder,” the 
maiden now said,” Never had such bright¬ 
ness been seen, or such glory as that of his 
saddle and the trappings of his golden horse. 
I will open this gate a little way for you, but I 
must warn you that Balder will never return 
to his home again, for he has brought his good¬ 
ness and light to the kingdom of our queen. 


THE HORSE THAT BROUGHT SPRING 393 

He sits at her right hand and the brightness 
of Balder’s face makes light the path of all 
who approach the kingdom of the dead.*’ 

The gate was raised and Hermod rode un¬ 
der, and on to a huge castle that lay, dark 
and gloomy among the hills. A deep moat 
full of water surrounded it, and the draw¬ 
bridge was shut and no watchman answered 
Hermod’s call. 

‘‘Good Sleipner,” begged the boy, “if you 
fail me now, I will never find my brother I 
think.’’ He touched the horse lightly with 
his spear, and Sleipner rose in the air with the 
lightness of a bird. He vaulted over the walls 
of death and carried his master into the court¬ 
yard of the pale queen of that place, Hela. 

She did not want to give up Balder, who 
had brought so much sunshine to her castle, 
not even for a rosy cheeked boy and a fine old 
horse who had eight feet. She set a task for 
Hermod. 

“Say you?” asked Queen Hela, “that all 
the earth weeps for Balder?” 

“The sea and the forests, the rocks and his 
mother and father weep for him,” said 
Hermod. 


394 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“Then ride hack and see if all are still 
mourning,” said Hela. “And if you can 
prove this, I will give you Balder back.” 

So Hermod had to leave his brother sitting 
at the right hand of Hela, but Balder sent his 
mother a ring for a keepsake, and Sleipner 
had a night’s rest beside Gyller the Golden, 
who was as anxious as Balder for home. 
Again the eight hoofs of Sleipner rang along 
the shadowy highway and up and down the 
earth to ask whoever they met to weep for 
Balder, and to keep him in their hearts that 
he might come home from the land of the dead. 

Everybody was willing to do this, except one 
old witch who lived on the edge of things 
and was so selfish that she thought only of 
herself. She quite refused to weep for Balder, 
but when Hermod returned, Hela was piti¬ 
ful and had Gyller the Golden saddled and 
brought out for Balder to ride home with his 
brother. 

“Keep him for six months,” she said, “but 
return him to me for six months, because one 
soul on earth refuses to weep for him. So we 
will share Balder’s brightness and the warmth 
of his noble heart.” 

So for six months, as Sleipner is supposed 


THE HORSE THAT BROUGHT SPRING 395 

to ride ahead of Balder leading him home to 
Odin, spring and then summer come in the 
North. If he must return to Hela, and the 
winter returns, Sleipner, with Hermod on his 
back, will go for him when the time of the cold 
is over. 

He brought the spring to the vikings and 
the gods and to Balder’s mother, this eight 
footed horse, whose hoof beats sound as clearly 
in the stories of the North as does the clashing 
of the swords. 


THE MESSAGE OF THE LADY MOON 


A long time ago, when the little brown 
children of the African veld knew that Lady 
Moon lived in glorious light on a green and 
high kopje, which is an African hill, they also 
knew that Lady Moon wished to send a mes¬ 
sage to men. 

She held a wonderful secret in her heart, 
a secret that she alone could impart. High 
there, on her kopje , Lady Moon waxed and 
waned, grew round and bright, and then shrank 
until she could not be seen at all in the valleys. 
But no sooner had she disappeared, than did 
Lady Moon rise again, a slender crescent but 
sure to be the full moon after the nights had 
passed. Lady Moon lived and died, and then 
lived again. This she wished to tell to her 
brown children of the veld . 

So Lady Moon looked about for a messenger, 
for her kopje was the highest hill of all. But 
the animals were all too busy to do this er¬ 
rand. Yes, not one of the animals would go 

396 


THE MESSAGE OF THE LADY MOON 397 

down the hill with Lady Moon’s message. So 
she was at last obliged to ask old Oom Croco¬ 
dile, who was not very much good, but who 
was at least willing. Oom, which meant Un¬ 
cle, Crocodile listened to Lady Moon’s words. 

“Go down to men,” she told him, “and give 
them this message. ‘ As I, dying, live, so also 
shall you die and, dying, live? ” 

Old Oom Crocodile listened and he repeated 
the message over so that he would not forget 
the words, and then he started for the veld . 

It was a long journey for Oom Crocodile, 
sandy and parched and with roads to which he 
was not used. But he traveled on as best he 
could, saying over Lady Moon’s message and 
watching her up there on her kopje with his 
little sharp eyes. Oom Crocodile saw Lady 
Moon beautiful and golden. Then he saw her 
shrunken and disappearing. But soon he saw 
a silver horn rise in the night above her kopje, 
very thin, but growing. So Lady Moon went 
on showing Oom Crocodile how she was always 
living and growing, and dying and living 
again. 

But about this time old Oom Crocodile 
came to a sharp turn in the road and he had 
to go around it in a great curve, for he was 


398 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


a long, stiff and clumsy creature. His back 
was as stiff as a wooden plank. He was tired, 
and be went more slowly, drif, draf, drip pity; 
drif, draf, drippity. That was the way Oom 
Crocodile sounded as he turned the corner of 
the road in a wide turn, and he felt a little nip 
at the end of his tail. He turned his head, 
and there, trying a pronk, as usual, was saucy 
little Neef Haasje. Yes, little Cousin Hare 
had heard, from his hiding place underneath 
the bushes, the drif, draf, drippity of old Oom 
Crocodile coming, and he wanted to know why 
he was out in the evening and where he was 
going. 

“I am bearing a message from Lady Moon 
to men,” said Oom Crocodile. “As I die, and 
dying, live, so also shall you die and, dying, 
live.” 

“That is a stupid message to carry!” said 
little Neef Haasje, “for it is likely that the 
children of the veld know it already. Still, 
you look weary, old Oom, and I am always 
ready to do a good turn for a traveler along 
my roads. Return to your home in the swamp 
and I will carry Lady Moon’s message for the 
rest of the way.” 

Well, that sounded neighborly to Oom 


THE MESSAGE OF THE LADY MOON 399 

Crocodile, and lie was tired. So lie taught 
the message to little Neef Haasje, who learned 
it in a minute and then was off, Uppity, Uppity, 
Up, his long ears flapping, and his whiskers 
shaking with his laughter. For Neef Haasje 
was trying a prorik as usual. He was not re¬ 
peating the message as he had been told to. 
No, Neef Haasje stopped at every house and 
farm and called shrilly, “A message from 
Lady Moon! She bids Neef Haasje tell you 
the news. Children of Baboons, living you 
live, but dying, you die.” Then on, like the 
wind over the veld, went naughty little Neef 
Haasje, spreading consternation wherever he 
ran. 

The farming stopped and the brown people 
gathered together shivering and shaking until 
goose-flesh appeared on their bodies. That 
was the time when goose-flesh first came, and 
some people have had it ever since. The 
brown brothers of Lady Moon and Neef 
Haasje and old Oom Crocodile shivered and 
shook, and the more they shivered and shook, 
the more Neef Haasje liked it, for he enjoyed 
a joke. And at last when everybody was 
scared, he decided that he would return and 
tell Lady Moon of his pronk. This was when 


400 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


Neef Haasje made a mistake. He ran back 
and np the kopje of Lady Moon. “I fright¬ 
ened the brown brothers , 5 ’ he told her. 1c They 
believed me when I told them your message, 
dying they die.” 

Oh, but Lady Moon was angry. She was 
in the full of her glory that night, high, and 
trailing her golden robes down over the kopje 
until it looked as if it were a white hill. And 
little Neef Haasje, looking up at Lady Moon, 
began to feel that all was not well with him. 
His ears dropped and he would have run away, 
but Lady Moon caught him and switched him 
with a switch cut from a briary bush. Neef 
Haasje fought the beautiful Lady Moon. He 
scratched her face so that she still carries the 
marks. You may see them on her face to¬ 
night. But she switched Neef Haasje just the 
same and when she let him return, his little 
round nose was slit, and slit it has been ever 
since. And he went over the road he had gone 
before, giving Lady Moon’s message rightly 
this time, 

“As I die and, dying, live so also shall you 
die, and dying, live.” 


OF HOBSES WHO LIVE IN BOOKS 



ME. PICKWICK DRIVES 


Bright and pleasant was the sky, balmy the 
air, and beautiful the appearance of every¬ 
thing around as Mr. Pickwick started out 
with his friends for Manor Farm. They were 
to go by chaise. 

The chaise itself was a curious little green 
box on four wheels, with a low place for two 
behind, and an elevated seat in front for one. 
It was drawn by an immense brown horse, 
displaying great symmetry of bone. A hos¬ 
tler stood near, holding by the bridle another 
immense brown horse, apparently a near rela¬ 
tive of the animal in the chaise, ready sad¬ 
dled for Mr. Winkle. 

“Bless my soul!” said Mr. Pickwick, as 
they stood upon the pavement while their coats 
were being put on, “Bless my soul! Who’s to 
drive? I never thought of that.” 

“Oh, you, of course,” said Mr. Tupman. 

“Of course,” said Mr. Snodgrass. 

“I!” exclaimed Mr. Pickwick. 

403 


404 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“Not the slightest fear, sir,” said the hos¬ 
tler. “Warrant him quiet, sir; a hinfant in 
arms might drive him.” 

“He doesn’t shy, does he?” asked Mr. 
Pickwick. 

“Shy, sir? He wouldn’t shy if he was to 
meet a vaggin -load of monkeys with their tails 
burnt off.” 

This was encouraging. Mr. Tupman and 
Mr. Snodgrass climbed into the chaise; Mr. 
Pickwick ascended to his seat, and put his feet 
on a floor-cloth shelf erected beneath for that 
purpose. The stable boy placed the reins in 
Mr. Pickwick’s left hand, and the hostler 
thrust the whip into his right. 

“Whoa!” cried Mr. Pickwick as the horse 
showed a wish to back into a coffee-room 
window. 

“Whoa!” said Mr. Tupman and Mr. 
Snodgrass. 

“Only his playfulness, sir,” said the hostler 
and ran to help Mr. Winkle in mounting. 
“The other side, if you please.” 

“The gentleman was getting up on the 
wrong side,” whispered a grinning post-boy 
to a waiter. 


MR, PICKWICK DRIVES 405 

Mr. Winkle, thus instructed, climbed into 
his saddle with about as much difficulty as he 
would have experienced in getting up the side 
of a war ship. 

“All right ?” asked Mr. Pickwick, with a 
feeling that it was all wrong. 

“All right,” said Mr. Winkle faintly. 

“Let ’em go !” cried the hostler, “hold him 
in, sir,” and away went the chaise and the 
saddle horse, with Mr. Pickwick on the box 
of one, and Mr. Winkle on the hack of the 
other, to the delight and gratification of the 
whole inn yard. 

“What makes him go so sideways?” said 
Mr. Snodgrass in the chaise to Mr. Winkle 
in the saddle. 

“I can’t imagine,” said Mr. Winkle. His 
horse was drifting up the street in the 
strangest manner, side first, with his head to¬ 
ward one side of the way, and his tail toward 
the other. 

Mr. Pickwick’s horse was also executing odd 
movements. He had a singular way of dart¬ 
ing every now and then to the side of the road, 
then stopping short, then rushing forward for 
some minutes at a speed that was dreadful. 


406 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“What can he mean by this?” said Mr. 
Snodgrass, when the horse had done the trick 
for the twentieth time. 

“I don’t know,” said Mr. Tupman, “but it 
looks very much like shying.” 

Mr. Snodgrass was about to reply when Mr. 
Pickwick dropped his whip and they called 
to Mr. Winkle—trotting up on the tall horse, 
his hat over his ears, and shaking with fright, 
“Pick up the the whip—there’s a good 
fellow!” 

Mr. Winkle managed to stop and get off long 
enough to do this, but when he tried to re¬ 
mount, and touched the reins, the horse slipped 
them over his head and darted backwards 
their full length. 

“Good fellow! Good old horse!” said Mr. 
Winkle, but the more he coaxed, the farther 
away the horse got. They went round and 
round each other for ten minutes, and then 
Mr. Pickwick dismounted to see if he could 
get the horse to stand still. He was kindness 
itself. He carefully drew his chaise in to the 
hedge lest anyone should come along the road, 
and stepped back to Mr. Winkle’s assistance, 
leaving Mr. Tupman and Mr. Snodgrass in the 
vehicle. 


MR. PICKWICK DRIVES 


407 


But no sooner did the saddle horse see Mr. 
Pickwick coming, than he changed his round 
and round motion for a backward one, taking 
Mr. Winkle with him at the end of the bridle. 
Mr. Pickwick ran, the horse backed. There 
was a great scraping of feet, and kicking up 
of the dust; and at last Mr. Winkle, his arms 
nearly pulled out of their sockets, fairly let 
go his hold. The horse paused, started, shook 
his head, turned round, and quietly trotted 
home to his stable. 

Mr. Winkle and Mr. Pickwick looked in 
blank dismay at each other. A rattling noise 
at a little distance attracted their attention. 
They looked up. “Bless my soul!” said the 
surprised Mr. Pickwick, 44 there’s the other 
horse running away!” 

It was but too true. The horse was tearing 
off with the four-wheeled chaise behind him, 
and Mr. Tupman and Mr. Snodgrass in the 
four-wheeled chaise. The heat was a short 
one. Mr. Tupman threw himself into a hedge, 
Mr. Snodgrass followed his example—the 
horse dashed the four-wheeled chaise against 
a wooden bridge, and then stood stock still 
to gaze upon the ruin he had made. 

The four gentlemen approached him kindly 


408 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


and unharnessed him. This complicated busi¬ 
ness over, they walked slowly down the road, 
leading the horse among them, and leaving the 
chaise to its fate. 

It was late in the afternoon when the 
four friends and their four-footed companion 
turned into the lane leading to Manor Farm. 
Torn clothes, scratched faces, dusty shoes, ex¬ 
hausted looks, and above all, the horse 1 

“We’ll have to put you to rights here,” said 
their host of the Manor. “Where have you 
been, and you do look tired! I’ll introduce 
you to the people in the parlor later. Emma, 
bring a needle and thread; towels and water, 
Mary! Come, girls, bustle about.’’ 

When his guests, all save the horse, who was 
taken good care of in the stable, had been 
washed, mended and brushed, their host led 
them to the parlor door. 

“Welcome!” he said, as if their arrival had 
been better planned and executed. “ Wel¬ 
come, gentlemen, to Manor Farm!” 


THE WHITE KNIGHT AND HIS 
HORSE 


The White Knight drew up at Alice’s side, 
and tumbled off his horse. He stood up 
panting. 

“May I help you off with your helmet?” 
asked Alice. It was evidently more than he 
could manage himself; however she managed 
to shake him out of it at last. 

“Now one can breathe more easily,” said 
the Knight, putting back his shaggy hair with 
both hands, and turning his gentle face and 
large mild eye to Alice. She thought she had 
never seen such a strange-looking soldier in 
all her life. 

He was dressed in tin armor, which seemed 
to fit him very badly, and he had a queer¬ 
shaped little deal box fastened across his 
shoulders, upside-down, and with the lid hang¬ 
ing open. Alice looked at it with great 
curiosity. 

“I see you’re admiring my little box,” the 

409 


410 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


Knight said in a friendly tone. “It’s my own 
invention, to keep clothes and sandwiches in. 
You see I carry it upside-down, so that the 
rain can’t get in.” 

“But the things can get out,” Alice gently 
remarked. “Do you know the lid’s open?” 

“I didn’t know it,” the Knight said, a shade 
of vexation passing over his face. “Then all 
the things must have fallen out! And the 
box is of no use without them.” He unfast¬ 
ened it as he spoke, and was just going to 
throw it into the bushes, when a sudden 
thought seemed to strike him, and he hung 
it carefully on a tree. “Can you guess why 
I did that?” he asked Alice. 

Alice shook her head. 

“In hopes some bees may make a nest in it; 
then I should get the honey.” 

“But you’ve a bee-hive—or something like 
one—fastened to the saddle,” said Alice. 

“Yes, it’s a very good bee-hive,” the Knight 
said in a discouraged tone, “one of the best 
kind. But not a single bee has come near it 
yet. And the other thing is a mouse-trap, I 
suppose the mice keep the bees out—or the bees 
keep the mice out, I don’t know which.” 

“It isn’t likely, is it?” asked Alice politely, 


THE WHITE KNIGHT AND HIS HORSE 411 


“that there would be any mice on a horse’s 
back?” 

“Not very likely, perhaps,” said the Knight, 
“but if they do come, I don’t choose to have 
them running all about. One should be pro¬ 
vided for everything. That is the reason the 
horse has anklets round his feet.” 

“But what are they for?” Alice asked in 
a tone of great curiosity. 

“To guard against the bites of sharks,” the 
Knight replied. “It’s an invention of my 
own. And now help me on. I’ll go with you 
to the end of this wood. Help me to get this 
dish for plum-cake into this bag.” 

This took a long time to manage, though 
Alice held the bag open very carefully, because 
the Knight was so awkward in putting in all 
his things. The first two or three times that 
he tried he fell in himself instead. “It’s 
rather a tight fit, you see,” he said, as they 
got the dish in at last, “there are so many 
candlesticks in the bag.” And he hung it to 
the saddle, which was already loaded with 
bunches of carrots, and fire-irons, and many 
other things. 

“I hope you’ve got your hair well fastened 
on ? ” he continued, as they set off, 


412 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“Only in the usual way,” Alice said smiling. 

“That’s hardly enough,” the Knight said 
anxiously, “you see the wind is so very strong 
here. It’s as strong as soup.” 

“Have you invented a plan for keeping the 
hair from being blown off?” Alice enquired. 

“Not yet,” said the Knight. “But, I’ve? 
got a plan for keeping it from falling off. 
First, you take an upright stick. Then you 
make your hair creep up it, like a fruit tree. 
Now the reason hair falls off is because it 
hangs down—things never fall upwards, you 
know. It’s a plan of my own invention. You 
may try it if you like.” 

It didn’t sound a comfortable plan, Alice 
thought, and for a few minutes she walked in 
silence, puzzling over the idea, and every now 
and then stopping to help the poor Knight, 
who was certainly not a good rider. 

Whenever the horse stopped, which it did 
very often, he fell off in front. And when¬ 
ever it went on again, which it generally did 
rather suddenly, he fell off behind. Other¬ 
wise he kept on pretty well, except that he had 
a habit of now and then falling off sideways, 
and as he usually did this on the side on which 
Alice was walking, she soon found that it was 


THE WHITE KNIGHT AND HIS HORSE 413 

the best plan not to walk quite close to the 
horse. 

“I’m afraid you’ve not had much practise 
in riding,” she ventured to say, as she was 
helping him up from his fifth tumble. 

The Knight looked very much surprised. 
i ‘What makes you say that?” he asked as he 
scrambled back into the saddle, keeping hold 
of Alice’s hair with one hand, to save himself 
from falling over on the other side. 

“Because people don’t fall off quite so often 
when they’ve had much practise.” 

“I’ve had plenty of practise,” the Knight 
said very gravely, “plenty of practise.” 

They went on in silence after this, the 
Knight with his eyes shut, muttering to him¬ 
self, and Alice watching anxiously for the next 
tumble. 

“The great art of riding,” the Knight sud¬ 
denly began in a loud voice, waving his right 
arm as he spoke, “is to keep—” Here the 
sentence ended as suddenly as it had begun, as 
the Knight fell heavily on the top of his head 
exactly in the path where Alice was walking. 
She was quite frightened this time, and said 
in an anxious tone, as she picked him up, “I 
hope no bones are broken?” 


414 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“None to speak of,” the Knight said, as if 
he didn’t mind breaking two or three of them. 
“The great art of riding, as I was saying, is 
to keep your balance properly. Like this, 
you know—” 

He let go the bridle, and stretched out both 
his arms to show Alice what he meant, and 
this time he fell flat on his back, right under 
the horse’s feet. 

“Plenty of practise!” he went on repeat¬ 
ing, all the time that Alice was getting him on 
his feet again. “Plenty of practise!” 

“It’s too ridiculous!” cried Alice, losing all 
her patience this time. “You ought to have 
a wooden horse on wheels, that you ought!” 

“Does that kind go smoothly?” the Knight 
asked in a tone of great interest, clasping his 
arms round the horse’s neck as he spoke, just 
in time to save himself from tumbling off 
again. 

“Much more smoothly than a live horse,” 
Alice said, with a little scream of laughter, 
in spite of all she could do to prevent it. 

“I’ll get one,” the Knight said thoughtfully 
to himself. “One or two—several.” 

There was a short silence after this, and then 
the Knight went on again. “I daresay you 


THE WHITE KNIGHT AND HIS HORSE 415 


noticed, the last time you picked me up, that 
I was looking rather thoughtful?” 

“You were a little grave,” said Alice. 

“Well, just then I was inventing a new way 
of getting over a gate—would you like to hear 
it?” 

“Very much indeed,” said Alice politely. 

“I’ll tell you how I came to think of it,” 
said the Knight. “You see, I said to myself, 
‘The only difficulty is with the feet. The head 
is high enough already. Now, first I put my 
head on top of the gate—then the head is high 
enough. Then I stand on my head, then the 
feet are high enough, you see. Then, you 
see, I’m over.” 

“Wouldn’t that be rather hard?” Alice said 
thoughtfully. 

“I haven’t tried it yet,” said the Knight, 
but looking rather vexed at her question, so 
Alice changed the subject hastily. 

“What a curious helmet you’ve got!” she 
said cheerfully. “Is that your own invention 
too?” His helmet was in the shape of a 
horse’s head. 

The knight looked proudly at his helmet, 
which hung from the saddle. 

“Yes,” he said, “but I’ve invented a better 


416 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


one than that—like a sugar loaf. When I 
used to wear it, if I fell off the horse, it always 
touched the ground directly. So I had a very 
little way to fall, you see. But there was the 
danger of falling into it, to he sure.” He sud¬ 
denly raised his head in some excitement, and 
instantly rolled out of the saddle and fell head¬ 
long into a deep ditch. 

Alice ran to the side of the ditch to look 
for him. She could see nothing but the soles 
of his feet, but she was relieved to hear him 
still talking on in his usual tone. 

“How can you go on talking so quietly, 
head downwards ?” Alice asked, as she dragged 
him out by the feet, and laid him in a heap on 
the bank. 

The Knight looked surprised at the ques¬ 
tion. “What does it matter where my body 
happens to be V 9 he asked. c 6 In fact, the more 
head-downwards I am, the more I keep invent¬ 
ing new things.” 

Of all the strange things that Alice saw in 
her journey through The Looking Glass, the 
White Knight was the one she always remem¬ 
bered most clearly. The mild blue eyes and 
kindly smile of the Knight, the setting sun 


THE WHITE KNIGHT AND HIS HORSE 417 

gleaming through his hair and shining on his 
armour in a blaze of light that quite dazzled 
her, the horse quietly moving about, cropping 
the grass at her feet, and the black shadows of 
the forest behind. 

He mounted at last, gathered up the reins 
and turned his horse’s head along the road 
by which he had come. 

“Erom here,” he said, “you’ve only to go 
down the hill and over that little brook, and 
then you’ll be a Queen. But, you’ll stay and 
see me off first?” he asked, as Alice turned 
with an eager look in the direction to which he 
pointed. “I shan’t be long. You’ll wait and 
wave your handkerchief when I get to that 
turn of the road! I think it’ll encourage 
me.” 

So they shook hands, and then the Knight 
rode slowly away into the forest. “It won’t 
take long to see him off!” Alice said to her¬ 
self, as she stood watching. “There he goes! 
Bight on his head as usual! However, he gets 
on again pretty easily—that comes of having 
so many things hung on a horse.” 

So she went on talking to herself, as she 
watched the horse walking leisurely along the 


418 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


road, and the White Knight tumbling off, first 
on one side and then on the other. After the 
fourth or fifth tumble he reached the turn, and 
she waved her handkerchief to him, and 
waited till he was out of sight. 


JACKANAPES RIDES THE RED- 
HAIRED PONY 


Once a year the Goose Green became a scene 
of carnival. First of all carts and caravans 
were rumbling up all along, day and night. 
Jackanapes could hear them as he lay in bed 
in his aunt, Miss Jessamine’s, house on the 
Green, and he could hardly sleep for speculat¬ 
ing what booths and whirligigs he should find 
set up when he and his dog, Spitfire, went out 
after breakfast. 

As a matter of fact, he seldom had to wait 
so long for news of the Fair. The Postman 
knew the window out of which Jackanapes’ 
yellow head would come and was ready with 
his report. 

“ Royal Theayter, Master Jackanapes, in 
the old place, but be careful o’ them seats, sir; 
they’re rickettier than ever. Two sweets and 
a ginger beer under the oak tree, and the Ply¬ 
ing Boats is just a-coming along the road.” 

Jackanapes was not absolutely free from 

419 


420 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


qualms about riding in the Flying Boats, and 
he was still too small a boy not to be a bit 
afraid to mount the Giddy-go-Round. But 
once on the back of the Black Prince he stuck 
to it as a horseman should. During the first 
round he waved his hat, and observed with 
some concern that the Black Prince had lost 
an ear since last Fair. At the second round 
Jackanapes looked a little pale but sat upright, 
though somewhat too rigid to be natural. At 
the third round he shut his eyes. During the 
fourth his hat fell off and he clasped the 
horse’s neck. By the fifth he had laid his 
yellow head against the Black Prince’s mane 
and clung to it anyhow until the Giddy-go- 
Round stopped, when the proprietor assisted 
him to alight, and he sat down rather suddenly 
and said that he had enjoyed it very much. 

And before one knew it there was nothing 
left of the Fair save footmarks on the grass of 
the Goose Green and the oyster shells. Grass 
soon grows over footmarks and the children 
took the oyster-shells to trim their gardens 
with. But the season after the Fair there 
lingered another relic of Fair-time in which 
Jackanapes was deeply interested. Jacka¬ 
napes, out rambling by himself where the 


JACKANAPES RIDES THE PONY 421 

straggling common merged into some wilder 
waste where gypsies sometimes squatted if the 
constable allowed it, came upon a surprise. 
He was knocked over by the Gipsy’s son rid¬ 
ing the Gipsy’s red-haired pony at break neck 
speed across the common. 

Jackanapes got up and shook himself, none 
the worse except for being head over heels in 
love with the red-haired pony. What a rate 
he went at! How he spurned the ground with 
his nimble feet! How his red coat shone in 
the sunshine! And how his bright eyes 
peeped out of his dark forelock as it was blown 
by the wind! 

The Gipsy boy had had a fright, and he was 
willing enough to reward Jackanapes for not 
having been hurt by consenting to let him ride. 

“Would you kill the little fine gentleman!” 
shouted the Gipsy mother who came up just 
as Jackanapes and the pony set off. 

“He wanted to get on,” said the Gipsy boy. 
“It’ll not kill him. He’ll fall on his yellow 
head, and it’s as tough as a cocoanut.” 

But Jackanapes did not fall. He stuck to 
the red-haired pony just as he had stuck to 
his hobby horse; but, oh, how different the de¬ 
light of this wild gallop with flesh and blood! 


422 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


Just as his legs were beginning to feel numb, 
the Gipsy boy cried, “Lollo!” Bound went 
the pony so suddenly that Jackanapes had to 
cling to his neck and the pony stopped with a 
jerk at the place where he had started. That 
was his name, the little boy discovered, Lollo, 
for red. He was a trick pony left after the 
Fair and the Gipsy father would not sell him 
under fifteen pounds. 

A few days later Jackanapes had a visit 
from his Grandfather, who was a soldier and 
a general. Jackanapes was to keep his clothes 
and his hands clean, not to put sticky things 
in his pocket, not to burst in the parlor door, 
to be careful about rubbing his shoes on the 
door-mat and to bring his lesson books to his 
aunt to have the dogs’ ears ironed out. Jack¬ 
anapes dreaded his grandfather’s coming, 
but when he really did arrive, and they sat 
down in two high backed chairs to have a talk, 
he felt more at ease with him. His grand¬ 
father, a General, wore his wig in a braid at 
the back, the end tied with a bow of black 
ribbon, and one of his eyes was of glass. Al¬ 
though Jackanapes had never seen his grand¬ 
father before, he began to feel at ease with him 
at once, disposed to talk confidentially with 


JACKANAPES RIDES THE PONY 


423 


him as he did with the Postman. At last, 
after having told his grandfather all about the 
Goose Green during Fair-time, Jackanapes 
jingled two pennies that he had in his pocket. 

“They are saving up, sir,” he told the 
General. 

“Bless me, what for?” asked the General, 
pretending to be surprised that a boy ever 
needed money. “I’ll warrant you spend your 
money like a prince, sir, when you have it,” 
he went on. “How much do you want?” 

“Fourteen pounds, nineteen shillings and 
tenpence is what I want,” Jackanapes told his 
grandfather, “for buying Lollo with. He is 
the Gipsy’s red-haired trick pony left from 
the Fair, sir. Oh, he is beautiful! You 
should see his coat in the sunshine! You 
should see his tail! You should see his mane! 
And such little feet, sir, and they go like light¬ 
ning. Such a dear face, too, and eyes like 
a mouse! But he’s a racer, and the Gipsy 
wants fifteen pounds for him.” 

“If he’s a racer, you couldn’t ride him. 
Could you?” 

“No-o, sir, but I can stick to him. I did the 
other day.” 

“ You did, did you? Well, I’m fond of rid- 


424 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


ing myself, and if the beast is as good as you 
say, he might suit me.” 

“You’re too tall for Lollo, I think,” said 
Jackanapes, measuring his grandfather with 
his eye. 

“I could double up my legs, I suppose. 
Anyhow, we’ll have a look at him in the 
morning.” 

“Don’t you weigh a good deal, sir?” asked 
Jackanapes. 

“Chiefly waistcoats,” said the General, slap¬ 
ping the breast of his military frock coat. 
“ We’ll have a little race on the Green the first 
thing in the morning. Glad you mentioned 
the chance, grandson. Very glad you men¬ 
tioned it!” 

The General was as good as his word. Next 
morning the Gipsy and Lollo, Miss Jessamine, 
Jackanapes, his grandfather and his dog, 
Spitfire, were all gathered at one end of the 
Green in a group. The General talked to the 
Gipsy, and Jackanapes stroked Lollo’s shaggy 
mane, not knowing whether he should be more 
glad or sorry if he were to be his grandfather’s 
mount. 

Then, “Jackanapes!” 

“Yes, sir!” 


JACKANAPES RIDES THE PONY 


425 


“I ? ve bought Lollo, but I believe you were 
right. He hardly stands high enough for me. 
If you can ride him to the other end of the 
Green, I’ll give him to you.” 

How Jackanapes tumbled onto Lollo’s back 
he never knew. He had just gathered up the 
reins when the gipsy father took him by the 
arm. “If you want to make Lollo go fast, 
little gentleman—” 

“I can make him go,” said Jackanapes, and 
drawing from his pocket the trumpet he had 
bought at the Fair, he blew a blast both loud 
and shrill. 

Away went Lollo and away went Jacka¬ 
napes’ hat. His golden hair flew out, a crown 
from which his cheeks shone red and plump 
with the trumpeting. Away went Spitfire, 
mad with the rapture of the race and the wind 
in his long ears. Away went the geese who 
lived on the Green, the cocks and the hens. 

“Good, my little gentleman, good!” said the 
Gipsy when Jackanapes and Lollo rode back, 
Spitfire panting behind. “You were born 
for the saddle. You’ve a straight back, a 
strong knee, a flat thigh and the light, caress¬ 
ing hand. All you want is to learn the 
whisper.” 


426 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“And ride, sir,” said his grandfather, the 
General, “for the honor of your country.” 
And across the Green he saw a plain of the 
years-to-come between them, Master Jack¬ 
anapes galloping alone at the top of Lollo’s 
speed, their faces to the enemy, his golden 
head at Lollo’s ear. 


AROUND LODGE FIRES 


















' • 

f 








WHY THE DOG SITS BY THE 
FIRE 


Once upon a time, when only the Red Men 
lived in our country, it was said that the wolf 
and the dog were brothers and had the same 
lodge in the forest. 

They were animals of the same size, and of 
the same strength and prowess. They wore 
identical coats, the gray fur on the outside, 
and their tails were so much alike that there 
was not a hair to choose between. Their 
howls could not be told apart as they sat on 
the top of some wooded ridge and barked at 
the moon. They ran together for hunting, 
neither feeling the cold. All would have gone 
well with the dog and the wolf if there had 
not come an unusually long and cold winter, 
a winter more severe than the two had ever felt 
before. 

IJp to that time the wolf had not known what 
it was to shiver. He was the animal of the 
forest who was able to cure frost-bite, for 

429 


430 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


his pads were never frozen as he ran along 
the icy trails. But at the time of this story the 
wolf had been making trouble for some of the 
other animals. He had chased the hares and 
the squirrels, and had killed more than he 
needed. There was a council of the wild 
creatures called, and it was decided that the 
wolf must be punished. He must be made to 
feel the cold. 

Fire had come to the earth and the dog and 
the wolf were well aware of this, for the Red 
Men used fire to forge tools and weapons and 
for hardening their cooking pots. They had a 
ring of fire inside their lodges which was kept 
brightly burning in the season of the cold and 
about which they sat and told stories in the 
evening. The wolf, after the council, began 
to shiver and shake, and it occurred to him 
that it would be a good plan if they had a 
fire in their lodge, he and the dog. But he 
did not go for a bit of man’s heat himself. 
Instead he instructed the dog to go on the 
errand for him. 

“Go down the hill and as far as the village 
of men’s lodges,” the wolf told the dog, “and 
bring back enough coals for lighting a fire 


WHY THE DOG SITS BY THE FIRE 431 

beside which I may sit this cold winter and 
warm my old bones.” 

This seemed hardly fair to the dog. It was 
a lonely, bleak road he must take to reach the 
village. And he was tired out when night 
came, for at that time he was the wolf’s body 
servant. It was the dog who fetched and car¬ 
ried for the wolf, who ran behind the wolf 
when they went out hunting, and who also did 
all the housekeeping in their lodge. But the 
wolf said that he was not able to make this 
trip to the village, because his feet were frost¬ 
bitten. Amd the dog started out. 

He did not know the trail down to the vil¬ 
lage, for he had never been there. The wolf 
had never given the dog any time for visiting. 
It was a stormy night when he started, after 
having run all day, and the woods were un¬ 
tracked and dark. But the dog remembered 
the scent of the hunter whom he had followed, 
behind the wolf, for so many seasons. He dug 
beneath the snow and sniffed along the trail 
for the man scent and he found it, leading 
toward the village. 

The dog traveled all that night and when 
morning came he was famished and weak with 


432 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


hunger. Now the wolf had a habit of eating 
all his dinner in a greedy way, flesh, bones 
and all, leaving nothing at all in his lodge 
for another day. But the dog had been care¬ 
ful for many seasons, saving his bones until 
he had time to make his way down the hill and 
bury them neatly and secretly for the future. 
Now the dog remembered where he had buried 
bones, and he was able to nose them out and 
have a good breakfast which gave him strength 
to travel on. 

So this first dog went on, not stopping to 
hunt or kill, and he suddenly came upon a boy 
on the trail. He knew the boy for man, 
although he was smaller than the hunters, and 
he was surprised to see the boy so still, and 
nearly covered with snow. This was a young 
runner who had been sent from the village of 
the Red Men with a message for a tribe on 
the other side of the hill, but the storm had 
overtaken him and he had fallen in the trail, 
almost frozen to death. 

This was something of which the dog had no 
knowledge, but he had a desire to help any 
man in trouble, and especially a young one. 
He pushed aside the snow that was drifting 
over the boy and took his blanket firmly in 


WHY THE DOG SITS BY THE EIRE 


433 


Ms teeth, shaking the boy. He pulled at his 
moccasins until the boy awoke somewhat, and 
tried to stand up. Then the dog, who was 
very broad and strong, allowed the boy to lie 
across his back and, carrying him in this way, 
they went on down to the village. 

It was not an easy trip for the dog, but he 
held the boy’s blanket in his mouth, and when 
the trail was steep he walked slowly. When 
the snow blinded the dog, who had never been 
able to see ahead more than a third as far 
as his friend, the deer, he smelled his way, 
following the small scents of the little crea¬ 
tures to whom the Red Men were kind. 
Presently they saw the lights of the village 
and the dog went on until he came with his 
burden to the largest, warmest appearing 
lodge that stood in the center of the village. 
There he stopped, scratching at the door and 
howling loudly. 

There was terror at his howling inside the 
lodge, but the boy called out that all was well, 
so the door was opened to them. In they went, 
the boy and the dog, and they were welcomed 
and fed and given good places beside the fire 
ring in the center of the lodge. 

The dog was weary and he lay down and 


434 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


went right to sleep, his cold nose between his 
paws. Something strange had happened to 
him during his long trip down from the hills to 
the valley; he seemed to have lost his fierce 
wolf nature. The touch of the boy lying so 
helpless over his back, and all the man scents of 
which he was now a part, had given him a 
wish to live with man. He dreamed of living 
in the village and of being useful there. He 
would be able to follow the hunters and bark 
if danger menaced his lodge. He would be 
as faithful to the boy and to his family as he 
had been to his wild brother, the wolf. 

When the dog woke up, no one drove him 
out into the cold. The chiefs invited him to 
stay in the village, so it came about that the 
dog never carried fire back to the wolf in the 
forest. He had found a new place in the Red 
Man’s lodge and there the dog is today, or 
sitting comfortably beside the fire of some Pale 
Face friend. The wolf still lives in the hills 
and howls and hunts, but alone, without his 
gray brother. 


HOW THE ELEPHANT CAME 


In the old days of the Iroquois Indians 
when they lived in the Long House, its roof 
the sky, its floor the meadows and its doors 
the sunrise at the East and the sunset at the 
West, the animals tried to be of use to their 
brothers, the Iroquois. And each animal in 
those far-away days had its own way of help¬ 
ing an Indian boy or girl. 

The small white dog was tended and loved, 
because he was known to be the only faithful 
creature able to take the long journey from 
the earth to the sky with prayers from the 
Iroquois to his Great Spirit. The deer gave 
his horns to be war-clubs for the chiefs. The 
turtle gave his shell to make a drum for beat¬ 
ing in the harvest feast, and the doe gave her 
soft skin for making the Indian baby’s first 
moccasins and the leggings and wampum belt 
of an Indian lad. The great moose offered 
his hair for weaving into a burden strap, dyed 
many gay colors, for holding the boy’s bow 
and arrows to his back, or to bind the cradle 

435 


436 IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 

of a doll to the shoulders of a little Indian 
maiden. 

One and all the animals who lived and roved 
freely through the many miles of the Long 
House had their duty to do and each one did 
it, for they knew that the Iroquois did not kill 
them unless it was necessary for his food, his 
shelter or his clothing. Even the bear gave 
willingly of her skin and fat, knowing that the 
Red Man would spare her cubs. 

There was, however, one animal who seemed 
to have no use in the Long House. This was 
the great buffalo, who roamed and hunted 
smaller animals in the swampy places, seldom 
coming near the camp fires that burned on the 
tops of the hills. The great buffalo was the 
enemy of the others and also of the Red Man. 
Ho one wanted to live near him and he was 
despised throughout the length of the Long 
House. 

In those days, when there were no railway 
trains or telephone wires, or any means of 
carrying a message except by canoe and in the 
wampum belt of a swift footed young Indian 
runner, the animals also had their councils, 
it was thought, and a council was called to 
determine what should be done about the dan- 


HOW THE ELEPHANT CAME 


437 


ger and uselessness of the great buffalo. The 
animals lighted council fires on the hills and 
sent the deer, who was able to run the fleetest, 
to call them all to sit about the largest fire and 
talk about this huge, lazy beast, the buffalo. 

So they came, the moose and the young 
fawns leaping from one hill to the next, the 
bear running clumsily, the agile squirrel jump¬ 
ing from the branches of the pine tree to the 
branches of the oak, the hare running under 
the juniper bushes. All the animals and the 
birds as well came to the meeting, and all 
told of their love for the Red Man and spoke 
of their desire to give their lives even to help 
him. 

“ Although he snares us,” said the hare, “he 
scatters corn to feed us when the snow is on 
the ground.” 

“When the little boys come to draw the 
sweet sap from my maple trees in the spring,” 
said the squirrel, “they bring me nuts saved 
in their lodges for me all winter.” 

“The Indian mothers dip my quills in bright 
dye,” said the humble porcupine, “and stitch 
them on the dresses of the little girls for 
trimming.” 

So the council talked, and suddenly the 


438 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


animals saw the turtle taking his slow way up 
the hill. Yes, they had forgotten the turtle, 
for he was so heavy moving a creature that a 
council was apt to begin without him. But 
now the turtle crawled as fast as he could. 
He seemed to be very much put out about 
something, so they made a place for him at the 
fire, and when he was able to draw his little 
head out from under his shell, he spoke, 

“The great buffalo is on his way,” an¬ 
nounced the turtle, “but he comes in strange 
guise.” 

“How does the great buffalo come, and why 
is he approaching a council fire to which he 
was not invited?” asked the animals, but the 
turtle could not answer. He only repeated 
again and again, “He walks in a strange 
way.” 

The council might have broken up in alarm 
if the animals had not just then seen the great 
buffalo, huge, black and hairy, coming toward 
them. He was indeed strange looking. 

He had his usual four legs on which he 
strode along, but now the animals saw that he 
had a fifth leg. This fifth leg grew between 
his shoulders and stretched down between his 
ears over his nose, until it nearly touched the 


HOW THE ELEPHANT CAME 439 

earth. He approached the fire proudly and 
made a speech. 

“Brothers of forest and hill,” said the buf¬ 
falo, “in the past I have been the only use¬ 
less one among you. I have watched from the 
great swamp the service of the deer, the por¬ 
cupine, the bear and the others to our brother, 
man, and I have wished to join you but had no 
kind of service to offer. The Great Spirit 
made me huge and awkward, but now I come 
to you a different animal. I have come down 
from the marshlands and hidden in the forest 
to watch the housekeeping of the Indian 
mothers, and the help the children give her. 
I have watched them make their beds freshly 
each morning with branches and soft twigs 
spread over with blankets. 

“This is a kind of work that I can do, and 
the Great Spirit has given me a fifth leg for 
making beds and doing other useful tasks. I 
and all my children will carry burdens and 
use our trunks for spreading and lifting and 
carrying for all time.” 

As he finished his speech the first elephant, 
for it was indeed he, raised his trunk high and 
bellowed. 

So, it was thought by the Bed Men, after 


440 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


tales had been brought to them from the jungle 
places of the earth, this creature of five legs, 
the elephant, must have come. It was thought 
that his trunk had been given him for useful¬ 
ness, which is quite true. He is a patient 
creature of burdens, and he carefully spreads 
his own bed of straw as if he had learned how 
in the story days of the earth. 


WHY THE LION HAS A LONG 
TAIL 

He was a short, fat mountain lion with a 
rather short tail. He lived on the plains and 
plateaus of our country, long, long ago, and he 
traveled with the herds of buffalo. 

He had great strength in his limbs, a beauti¬ 
ful tawny coat and a voice that echoed from 
one hill top to another, but this lion was not 
looked upon with particular honor. He was 
a prowling, sneaking creature with a reputa¬ 
tion for cheating at games. 

In those days the animals played games 
among themselves, according to the old stories 
told about the Indian lodge fires. And among 
the most happy and the busiest gamesters were 
the little Squirrel People. There was scarcely 
a day, from one season to the next, that the 
Squirrel People were not to be seen in the for¬ 
est in large numbers, having contests with 
nuts, running races, having jumping and fly¬ 
ing contests, and always playing fair. 

It happened one day, toward evening, that 

441 


4 42 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


the lion was prowling about on the edge of the 
forest and his eyes were drawn by the glow 
of a bright fire which burned in the center of 
a small clearing. The lion was excited and 
drawn by the fire. Soft-footed, he took his 
way to the border of the woods and from a 
spot in a tall pine tree, hidden by the branches, 
he watched the circle of the little Squirrel 
People who were playing about their fire. 

As was their custom, they had made up a 
new and cheerful game. It was a bit like a 
game of tag. One of the Squirrel Men al¬ 
lowed himself to be chased about the burning 
circle of the fire and when he was caught he 
had to be buried, as children cover themselves 
up in the sand, in a heap of warm ashes until 
his fellows let him out. They were always 
careful not to keep the squirrel man too long 
in the ashes. When he came out, they let him 
be the first one to lead in the chase. 

Unseen, suddenly the lion dropped down in 
their midst. A trick had come to his mind. 
“May I play with you, little Squirrel Tribe V 9 
he asked. 

The Squirrel People were frightened and 
huddled together in the shadows of the trees, 
but the lion spoke soothingly. “Let me be 


WHY THE LION HAS A LONG TAIL 443 

buried first in the ashes,’’ he said. 44 Cover me 
up, and as long as you keep me there, only so 
long will I keep you in the bed of ashes.” 

That seemed fair to the Squirrel People. 
They came back to the fire and had a merry 
time covering up the huge lion, and carefully 
digging him out again when they thought that 
the heat might make him feel uncomfortable. 

44 Now it is my turn,” he roared to them and 
he chased them round and round the fire in a 
dizzy circle until he had caught every one and 
covered all up in the ashes. Then he went 
back to his home in the hills, for he intended 
to have a fine dinner of roasted squirrel when 
the ashes should cool. 

He took his soft-footed way across the plain 
in the moonlight and to his hill, thinking that 
no one had seen this tricky deed. He did not 
know that an old squaw of the Squirrel Peo¬ 
ple, too old to play games, had been watching 
him from her lodge at the foot of a nut tree. 

The lion went on until he came to a creek on 
the edge of which willows grew. He cut 
enough willows and then wove them together 
to make a large platter. Having finished this 
platter he carried it back to the fire and with 
a stick he uncovered his dinner of squirrel 


444 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


meat roasted there in the ashes. There was 
enough meat to fill his platter many times. 
The lion ate his fill, growing plumper with 
every mouthful and more stupid. At last his 
plate slipped down from his paws to the 
ground and he fell sound asleep. 

How long he slept the lion never knew, but 
he was awakened by feeling that his tail was 
being pulled. You remember that in those 
days, the Lion wore his tail short. Yes, his 
tail was being pulled so steadily and so hard 
that he awoke with a roar of pain, but he was 
not able to loosen the grasp of the angry squaw 
squirrel. He had gone to sleep at the foot of 
the tree in which she had her lodge and she 
had caught the tip of his tail and was pulling it 
with all the strength of a people who believe 
in fair play but who have been cheated. 

The lion got up and started to move on, but 
his tail was still caught in the clutch of the 
squaw squirrel. He pulled, but she also 
pulled. If he went on, he had to stretch him¬ 
self, so he did this but at every step his body 
became longer and leaner. At every pull his 
tail became longer and thinner. 

At last the lion got away, but he was no 
longer the sleek, short, fat creature he and 


WHY THE LION HAS A LONG TAIL 


445 


all his family had been. No, indeed. He was 
the long-tailed, thin mountain lion that he is 
today. It is said that all his family, even the 
kingly lion of the jungle, has a long tail in 
memory of the time when he did not play the 
game fairly. 



WHEN HEROES RIDE 



















BUCEPHALUS 


Old Philonicus of Thessaly was the most 
famous horse-raiser of his time. His stables 
were talked about from the Adriatic Sea to 
the Persian Gulf, and many of the best war 
steeds in Greece and Asia Minor had been bred 
and partially trained by him. He prided him¬ 
self particularly on his “ox-headed” horses, 
broad-browed fellows, with large polls, and 
small, sharp ears, set far apart. Proud crea¬ 
tures these were, and strong and knowing, and 
high-spirited—just the kind of horses for war 
steeds; and that was about all that horses were 
valued for in those days. 

Among these “ox-heads” there was one 
which excelled all others in mettle, beauty, and 
size but which, nevertheless, was a source of 
great concern to his master. He seemed to be 
altogether untamable and, although he was 
now fourteen years old, there was not a horse¬ 
man in Greece who had ever been able to mount 
him. 

He was a handsome creature, coal black. 


450 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


with a white star in his forehead. One eye 
was gray and the other brown. Everybody 
admired him, and people came great distances 
to see him. Had Philonicus been less shrewd 
he would have sold him for half the price of 
a common steed, and been glad to get rid of 
him. But like most men who spend their lives 
among horses, he knew a thing or two. He 
kept the horse’s untamableness a secret, and 
was careful that only his good points should 
be exhibited. Everybody who had any use for 
such an animal wanted to buy him. 

“What is the price?” 

“Thirteen thousand pieces of gold.” 

That answer usually put an end to the talk. 
For, as an ordinary horse might be bought at 
that time for about seventy gold pieces, and 
a thoroughbred war steed for two hundred, 
who was going to pay such a fabulous price ? 
Half-a-dozen fine houses could be built for that 
money. 

There were rich men who made Philonicus 
some very handsome offers, a thousand in gold, 
eight thousand, but he held steadily to the first 
price, and the longer he held to it, the more 
anxious everybody became to buy. At last, 


BUCEPHALUS 


451 


however, after the horse had reached middle- 
age, shrewd Philonicus got his price. King 
Philip of Macedon, who was ambitious to be¬ 
come the first man of Greece, was the pur¬ 
chaser ; and Philonicus, after hearing the gold 
pieces jingle in his strong box, led the great 
Bucephalus up to the Macedonian capital and 
left him safely housed in the king’s stables. 
He was careful, no doubt, to recross the Thes¬ 
salian borders before Philip had time to give 
the steed any kind of examination. 

You may imagine what followed. When 
the horse was brought out upon the parade 
grounds for trial the most skilful riders in 
Macedon could not mount him. He reared 
and plunged, and beat madly around with his 
sharp hoofs until everybody was glad to get 
safely out of his reach. The greatest horse 
tamers of the country were called, but they 
could do nothing. 

“Take him away!” cried the king at last, 
in a rage. “That man, Philonicus, has sold 
me an utterly wild and unbroken beast, under 
pretence of his being the finest horse in the 
world; but he shall rue it.” 

But now Bucephalus would not be led away. 


452 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


The horse tamers tried to throw ropes over 
his feet; they beat him with long poles; they 
pelted him with stones. 

“What a shame to spoil so fine a horse! 
The awkward cowards know nothing about 
handling him!” cried the king’s son, Alex¬ 
ander, who was standing by. 

“Are you finding fault with men who are 
wiser than yourself?” asked the king, growing 
more angry. “Do you, a boy of twelve years 
old, pretend to know more about handling 
horses than these men, whose business it is?” 

“I know that I can handle this horse bet¬ 
ter,” said the prince. 

“Suppose you try it!” 

“I wish that I might.” 

“How much would you forfeit if you try, 
and fail?” 

“I will forfeit the price which you paid for 
the horse,” answered Alexander. 

Everybody laughed then, but the king said, 
“Stand away, and let the lad try his skill.” 

Alexander ran quickly to the horse and 
turned his head toward the sun, for he had 
noticed that the animal was afraid of his own 
shadow. Then he spoke softly and gently to 
him, and kindly stroked his neck. The horse 


BUCEPHALUS 


453 


seemed to know that he had found a friend, 
and little by little his uneasiness left him. 
Soon, with a light spring, the lad leaped 
nimbly upon his back, and without pulling the 
reins too hard, allowed him to start off at his 
own gait. And then, when the boy saw that 
the horse was no longer afraid, but only proud 
of his skill, Alexander urged him with voice 
and spur to do his utmost. The king and his 
attendants were alarmed, and expected every 
moment to see the boy unseated and dashed 
to the ground. But when he turned and rode 
back, proud of his daring feat, everybody 
cheered and shouted—everybody but his fa¬ 
ther, who wept for joy, and kissed him, and 
said: 

“You must look for a kingdom which is 
worthy of you, my son, for Macedonia is too 
small for you.” 

After that Bucephalus would allow his 
groom to mount him barebacked; but when he 
was saddled nobody but Alexander dared touch 
him. He would even kneel to his young mas¬ 
ter, in order that he might mount more easily; 
and for sixteen years thereafter he served him 
as faithfully as horse ever served man. 

He was with Alexander when he conquered 


454 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


Persia, and lie carried him into more than one 
hard-fought fight. At one time Bucephalus 
was stolen, but his master made proclamation 
that unless he were forthcoming within a cer¬ 
tain time, every man, woman and child in the 
province should be put to death, and it was 
not long before he was brought back. 

In the great battle that was fought with King 
Porus of India, Alexander recklessly rode too 
far into the enemy’s ranks. The horse and his 
rider became the target for every spear, and 
for a time it seemed as if neither could escape. 
But the gallant Bucephalus, pierced by many 
weapons, and with streams of blood flowing 
from his neck and sides, turned about and 
over-riding his foes, rushed back to a place of 
safety. When he saw that his master was out 
of danger and among friends, the horse sank 
down upon the grass and died. Historians 
say that this happened in the year 327 b. c. 
and that Bucephalus had reached the good old 
age—for a horse—of thirty years. Alexander 
mourned for him as for his dearest friend, 
and the next city which he founded he named 
Bucephalus, in honor of the steed that had 
served him so well. 


THE HORSE WHO KEPT SCHOOL 


There was a king in the old days, King 
iEson of Iolcos by the sea, and it came about 
that he was driven from his throne. He had 
a bold and lawless stepbrother, who took arms 
against him and was able to hold the city by 
his cruel force. So the king was obliged to 
flee from Iolcos with his little son, the heir to 
the throne but now a wanderer, and his father 
led him away from the sea they both loved 
dearly and back toward the forests and the 
hills. 

They went sadly, the little lad in fear as 
to where they would lay their heads when night 
came, and the king also sad because of what 
he knew he must do. The boy must be trained 
to be a king, for the possible need there might 
be when he grew to manhood. His father 
was taking the lad to a strange school of which 
he knew, indeed the strangest school there ever 
was, where heroes were made. 

So, hand in hand, these two went up from 
the sea and crossed the valley rich with orange 

455 


456 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


groves and vineyards thick with purple grapes, 
and they also crossed a rushing torrential river 
known as the Anauros, for it was the season 
of the year when the water was low enough 
for travelers to ford. On went King ZEson 
and the little lad until they came to the foot 
of the sacred mountain of those days, Mount 
Pelion, whose top shone glistening white with 
snow. 

The boy would much rather have turned 
hack here, for he had heard tales of the mighty 
beings who held the storms and the winds in 
the hollow of their hands and who had their 
temples on Pelion, but his father held his hand 
and led him up the mountain side. Over 
marsh and crag and rough footpath they went 
until the boy’s sandals were worn to tatters 
and his legs were near to giving out beneath 
him. At last .ZEson was obliged to hold his 
lad in his arms as he stumbled on and upward, 
on, on endlessly, until suddenly they came out 
on a fertile plain and in front of them the wide 
opening of a great cave. 

Far above this cliff snow wreaths, dripping 
and cracking in the sun, hung in dazzling 
white, but here at its foot around the mouth 
of the cave there grew every sweet smelling 


THE HORSE WHO KEPT SCHOOL 457 

herb and flower that could be imagined, and 
stretching as far as the eye could see were 
green pastures and fields of ripening grain. 
There, growing happily in the sunshine and 
watered by the torrent that ran down the 
mountain side, was a beautiful garden place 
and from the inside of the cave came sounds 
of sweet music played by human hands upon 
well tuned strings. 

A man’s voice, as tender and comforting as 
the voice of a lad’s father, could be heard 
singing to the stringed music. iEson pointed 
to the cave and spoke in whispers to his son. 
“Go inside bravely, and put your hands on 
the knees of the old schoolmaster whom you 
will find seated there. Show no fear, but stay 
with him and learn all that he can teach you 
of courage and skill. I, myself, from this 
time on must be a wanderer from my land, but 
Cheiron will take pity on you and make you 
happy with the other lads, and in his good 
good season return you to Iolcos by the sea, 
as king.” 

It took much courage for a lad, never before 
away from the city of his birth, to say goodbye 
to his father and make his way, alone, inside 
a huge dim cave. But this son of iEson did 


458 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


this. He entered the cave. Then he stood 
still, amazed at what he saw. 

There he saw the sweet singer reclining on 
a couch of bear-skins spread over fragrant 
boughs of forest pine and cedar. His white 
hair fell down over his broad shoulders and his 
white beard spread like a mantle to cover his 
chest. His eyes were of a surpassing mild¬ 
ness and wisdom, and his forehead was as mas¬ 
sive as a mountain wall. He held a great lute, 
upon which he had been playing, and his smile 
welcoming the strange lad lighted the cave 
like flaring torches. But this is what the son 
of 2Eson saw and most wondered at. This 
was a man, a strong, heroic man, to the waist. 
Below his waist he was a noble horse. This 
was Cheiron, the Centaur, of whom it is writ¬ 
ten that the gods made none other beneath 
the skies with such wisdom. 

It took all his courage for the little lad to 
advance toward Cheiron and say, as iEson, 
his father, had instructed him, “In the name 
of Zeus, the father of gods and men, I am 
your guest from this day forth. ’ ’ But he did 
this and Cheiron spoke to him in the same 
mellow voice with which he sang to his gold 
lyre. And as the Centaur laid his hand on the 


THE HORSE WHO KEPT SCHOOL 459 

lonely boy’s curly hair and smiled at him, the 
lad forgot all his trouble and felt oddly at 
home and happy. 

If a boy loves a horse, this is one of the 
deepest loves of all his heart. Suppose a boy 
of today had a chance to go to school to a 
Centaur, half man and half horse, with the 
love and patience of his father and the love 
and faithfulness of a dumb beast! That 
would be fine, and so thought the old story¬ 
tellers of Greece. 

It was hardly any time before the boys of 
Cheiron’s charge came home to supper. Kun- 
ning, shouting and brave they came. Each one 
was the son of a hero; HCneas, Heracles, you 
may have heard of them when they grew up, 
moving mountains, holding the earth on their 
shoulders and doing other big things. Now 
they gathered around old Cheiron, as boys of 
today gather around their scout master, tell¬ 
ing him of what they had done during the 
afternoon. 

“I killed a deer for supper!” one boasted. 

“I took a wild cat among the crags,” said 
another. 

Heracles dragged a wild goat after him by 
its horns, for he was already a giant for 


460 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


strength. One boy carried a bear cub under 
each arm, laughing as they scratched, for he 
never felt hurt of tooth or nail. Cheiron 
praised them all, and then he rose, his mighty 
hoofs striking fire on the floor of the cave, as 
he looked over the plain for one boy who had 
not returned. 

The new boy also looked. He was just a 
little awed by these husky lads, and when the 
last one, a boy who walked apart and silently, 
returned, he felt that they were going to be 
friends. Asclepius, the all-wise boy, was this. 
His bosom was full of healing and rare 
herbs, and round his waist a snake was twisted. 
He told Cheiron how he had watched this 
snake cast off its old skin and become young 
under his very eyes. He was late because he 
had been to the village of herdsmen down in 
the valley where he had cured a child sick 
unto death with his herbs. And Cheiron, 
as he bade the boys scatter and bring wood 
for making a fire, told the new boy about 
Asclepius. “Each son of a hero,” explained 
the Centaur, “is given some gift, but to this 
child more than the others, for he cures while 
some kill. ’ ? 

That was the jolliest supper the little 


THE HORSE WHO KEPT SCHOOL 461 

strange lad had ever enjoyed. All the boys 
turned to and built a great fire for roasting 
the venison. They bathed in the snow torrent 
and then ate like young bears and drank of 
the clear spring water. After supper they lay 
on skins inside the cave and sang to Cheiron’s 
music, or boxed and wrestled and ran outside 
on the plain until the moon rose. Their beds 
were of boughs of bay and myrtle, so fragrant 
that it was hard to leave them with the dawn 
the next day. But all the boys were up be¬ 
times and off, the son of iEson with him, 
and not one bit homesick, for the child 
Asclepius held his hand in a friendly way. 

So this boy, Jason, lived and learned and 
grew strong and wise and brave for a long 
time. He rode on the Centaur’s back until 
no horse in the world would ever be able to 
throw him. He learned wisdom from the 
teaching of this strange schoolmaster until 
there came a day when Cheiron told him he 
could teach him no longer. It was time for 
Jason to return to his kingdom and, if he were 
able, displace the false king and take the 
throne for his father, but Cheiron gave him 
a message before he started down the side of 
the mountain. 


462 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


“Speak harshly to no soul you meet,’’ com¬ 
manded Cheiron, “and stand by the word you 
shall speak!” 

With these words treasured in his heart, 
Jason, a tall, noble youth, took the way he had 
come when a lad with his father. The same 
way, but harder. When he came to the stream 
they had forded, he found it a deep, swollen 
torrent. It was rushing along toward the sea 
with its melted snow and burden of the rains. 
Jason might be able to swim it. He was just 
about to jump in when he heard a shrill voice 
beside him. 

It was an old woman, a ragged, toothless 
crone with loose flying gray hair and scrawny, 
outstretched arms. “Who will carry me 
across!” she screamed, pulling at Jason’s 
tunic. 

This was far from what he wanted to do; 
Jason wanted to go home as fast as he could. 
He pulled away from the hag, but she followed 
and clung to him. “Carry me over, for the 
sake of the schoolmaster you have just left,” 
she whined, a cunning smile on her ugly face. 

Well, there was nothing to do, Jason 
thought, but try. He remembered the Cen¬ 
taur’s words and this was the first soul he 


THE HORSE WHO KEPT SCHOOL 463 

had met on the road. He put the old woman 
on his back and waded into the torrent. He 
struck out into deeper water. The current 
was against him. The burden on his back 
grew, at each stroke, heavier and the old crea¬ 
ture’s arms nearly strangled him. Her gray 
locks spread on the surface of the water seemed 
to pull him down stream with the current. 
But Jason swam on. 

It was as if he were carrying the weight of 
the world on his shoulders in the midst of all 
the deep waters of the earth. But Jason 
struggled through the torrent until he came to 
the opposite bank and climbed up, dropping 
himself and his burden on the ground. He 
closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened 
them to a wonder. 

The fairest of women was smiling down at 
him. Her garments were like the summer sea 
in the sunshine and a veil hung down from her 
forehead woven of the gold of the sunset. 
Through this shone the lovely person’s eyes, 
soft like heifer’s eyes, and they filled the glen 
where she stood with light. Ah, this was the 
fairest of the gods, Hera, the wife of Zeus, 
whom Jason had brought safely over the 
stream. He would have spoken with her ? but 


464 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


as strangely as lie had found her, so Hera went, 
and he started on toward the city. 

But Jason went sadly now, for his clothes 
were torn and ragged, and he was a most be¬ 
draggled heir to come home. “No one will 
believe me,” he said to himself as he saw at 
last the blue of the sea and the white walls 
of Ioleos. He walked apart, his head low, as 
he entered the gates and passed the market 
place and the shops, but wherever he went, peo¬ 
ple followed him and bowed to him and 
brought him offerings of fruit and new gar¬ 
ments and jewels. 

“He is the expected one, the one who comes 
to us with but one sandal!” they cried, and 
this was the second wonder of Jason’s life. 
There was a prophecy saying that the true 
king would return to Ioleos, in the gods’ good 
season, in humble garments and with one san¬ 
dal lost. And Jason, in keeping faith with old 
Cheiron, had lost a sandal in the torrent he 
had crossed with a burden on his shoulders. 

So Jason came to the throne of his father, 
and in time he went with the other boys of 
Cheiron’s school, grown up, to bring home the 
Golden Fleece, but that is a story of a ship, 
and this is a story of a Centaur. 


THE HORSE WHO RODE THROUGH 
FIRE 


The young horse, Greyfell, lifted his proud 
head high and sniffed at the light hoar frost 
lying so lightly on the morning air. The rest 
of the horses in the long-ago pasture of the 
North were cropping at the moss and brown 
grass, but Greyfell sensed the Valkyrs’ steeds 
from whose flying manes dropped the hoar 
frost and the sparkling dew of earth. He 
knew that the horses of Valhalla had passed 
that night. 

Riders to the sky, these unearthly horses, 
carrying each one of them a battle maiden to 
the fields of the North. Flowing golden hair, 
strong white arms for lifting the heroes who 
fell in battle, helmets and shields of silver, 
blood red corselets, glittering jeweled spears, 
so rode the Valkyrs on their mettlesome white 
steeds. And their horses bore them safely 
across the quivering bridge of colors, the Bi¬ 
frost, to the earth, that they might choose 
among the slain those heroes worthy to taste 

465 


466 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


the eternal joys of their father Odin’s hall in 
the sky, Valhalla. Cloud-like horses, unseen 
by men, who knew only that the dew had fallen 
white or a frost dropped over night, or that 
a spear of white lightning had pierced the sky; 
but Greyfell knew when the Valkyrs rode to 
the sky. Sometimes they carried a brave 
Viking, whom men said had gone down with 
his ship in a storm, oftener a slain soldier lay 
across their strong necks carried back at night 
to heaven, there to gladden the gods and feast 
in Odin’s hall. 

Greyfell wanted to bear a Valkyr some day, 
fetlock deep in blood as he carried her safely 
to some battle field. He wanted to ride the 
billows of a stormy sea warning the Vikings 
that it was time for them to leave their ships 
and join the heroes in Valhalla. But here he 
was only a mettlesome youngster, feeding in 
an everyday pasture with a lot of other horses 
and as yet no one had asked Greyfell to wear 
a saddle even. 

But as he watched the frost settle, he saw 
also that his fellow colts looked up from their 
feeding, startled. Then they tossed their 
manes and ran to and fro, frightened. A 
stranger was approaching, a fair young war- 


THE HORSE WHO RODE THROUGH FIRE 467 

rior, his golden hair escaping from his shining 
helmet, a sword flashing at his side. And with 
this youth was Gripur, the keeper of the 
horses. One was to be chosen, Greyfell knew, 
for this warrior lad to ride. 

He wished to show his mettle. Through 
the mass of horses Greyfell galloped. Then 
he dashed into the stream that ran by their 
pasture and swam across it, a feat difficult for 
the others. But when Greyfell drew himself 
up, sweating and panting, on the opposite 
bank, he jumped in again and swam back. He 
felt as if he could, himself, ride to the sky, 
so strong and proud a horse was he. And 
this young warrior, called Sigmund by old 
Gripur, wore the shimmering mail of the bat¬ 
tle maidens. Greyfell wanted Sigmund for 
a master. 

And Sigmund wanted Greyfell. “He has 
Sleipner, Odin’s steed, for an ancestor,” 
Gripur told Sigmund. Greyfell pricked up 
his ears. Sleipner, the eight footed racer of 
the clouds! Now Greyfell knew the good for¬ 
tune that was to be his; he was going to ride 
to Valhalla, of this he was sure. As Sigmund 
put his strong hand on Grey fell’s neck and 
mounted, the horse bounded over the pasture 


468 IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 

and out on to the high road as if he were al¬ 
ready flying. He felt wings on his hoofs. 
He fancied the quivering colors of Bifrost be¬ 
neath him as he raced. The touch of Sigmund 
was gentle and yet firm enough to he the guid¬ 
ing hand of a Valkyr. Greyfell was riding 
to the sky. 

But the road was long and as they continued, 
night and day, with scant time for rest and 
food, and the road changed to the dark and 
perilous ways of an unknown forest, Greyfell 
wondered if Sigmund knew the track of the 
Valkyrs. Lifting his light hoofs as he gal¬ 
loped, leaping over barriers, riding the waters 
of mountain torrents, the horse expected at 
a turning of the trail to rise, to feel himself 
taking the cloud path up to Valhalla. Sig¬ 
mund continued to urge him through the for¬ 
est until they came to the mountains. Up the 
steep side of a pathless mountain, higher and 
farther, Sigmund rode Greyfell until they saw 
beside their way deep, slime filled trenches as 
if made by some dreadful creature on its way 
to drink at a stream. 

Then the creature itself suddenly appeared 
before them, a huge and loathsome dragon, 
dragging its slimy folds down toward them, 


THE HORSE WHO RODE THROUGH FIRE 469 

its breath like fire, and its great height tower¬ 
ing far above the horse. 

Greyfell had never seen anything like this 
dragon in all his life. He wanted to shy; he 
felt like throwing his master and racing down 
the mountain in mad terror back to his home 
pasture again. But it must have been the 
courage of his ancestors of Odin’s stable 
which kept Greyfell there in the path of the 
dragon, standing motionless as Sigmund slew 
it, and then carrying him on again into unseen 
hazards of the mountain. 

Now there was a change in their journey. 
Both Sigmund and Greyfell heard sweet and 
friendly voices about them. From each tree 
of the woodland under which they rode came 
the voices of birds, whose language they could 
understand, pointing the way to them and urg¬ 
ing them to climb higher and not falter. 

Through trackless regions for a long while 
Greyfell took Sigmund until they had reached 
the Hinderfiall in Frankland, a mighty moun¬ 
tain given over to mystery and with its sum¬ 
mit touching the clouds. Bravely Greyfell 
climbed toward its cloud-wreathed summit, 
thinking that this was the trail to Valhalla, but 
he stopped there. It had seemed to be lighted 


470 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


by torches as Sigmund had looked up at it. 
Now that they had reached its peak, the Hin- 
derfiall was seen to be surrounded by fire. 
Their way was stopped by a ring of fiercely 
burning flame. 

Sigmund turned in his saddle, raised his 
sword and tightened his girth. Greyfell trem¬ 
bled as he heard the crackling of the fire, but 
Sigmund spoke to him gently, gathered the 
reins, lifted them, and guided the horse 
straight toward the fiery ring. 

Greyfell saw a white wall wavering before 
him and the flood of the flames breaking apart 
as he entered. Over his head rose the fire, its 
roaring filling his ears. But the two entered 
the crimson ring as they would have galloped 
through a field of ripe, ruddy grain, and as the 
grain bows in the summer before the reaper, 
so the flaming wall of the fire was turned aside 
from the warrior and his brave horse. The 
white flames licked Sigmund’s garments and 
mingled with Greyfell’s flying mane, but they 
were unscathed by the heat. It seemed as if 
the fire increased the strength and speed of the 
horse, and served to burnish to a greater bril¬ 
liance Sigmund’s armor. And as they fear¬ 
lessly sprang through the flames, the fire flick- 


THE HORSE WHO RODE THROUGH EIRE 471 

ered, died down and became a ring of white 
ashes. 

Beyond the ashes they saw the walls of a 
tall stone castle, toward whose open gates they 
rode and entered, no warders or any living 
being there to either welcome or stop them. 
But as Greyfell bore Sigmund inside these 
castle walls, they saw a figure in helmet and 
mail lying in the garden as if asleep. 

Sigmund dismounted, leaving Greyfell to 
graze, and approached the still form. He 
bent over and lifted the helmet. Then he ex¬ 
claimed and Greyfell moved close to see the 
the wonder. A sleeping Yalkyr! They had 
come through hazard and fire to find one of 
the warrior maidens of the sky and awaken 
her from her spell of enchanted sleep. She 
had been pierced with the Thorn of Sleep and 
doomed to lie there until a hero brave enough 
to cross the ring of flames surrounding her 
should come. 

There lay the beautiful Valkyr, Brunhild, 
her fair white linen garments folded beneath 
her coat of mail and her long gold hair rip¬ 
pling and waving among the grasses about her. 
She opened her eyes, and smiled, and stood 
erect. It was the same brave smile and the 


472 


IN THE ANIMAL WORLD 


same welcoming arms outstretched to Sig¬ 
mund and to Greyfell which had brought com¬ 
fort and reward to the heroes of some desper¬ 
ate fight or perilous adventure. Although it 
had not been Grey fell's good fortune to join 
those white steeds of the Valkyrs, those fortu¬ 
nate riders to the sky, he had brought his 
master through the fire to Brunhild, that one 
of the warrior maidens sent to gladden the 
earth with her smile. 


THE END 






























































































































































































































































































































